A Sin for Salvation
by Luna339
Summary: (You don't have to have read my trilogy to get this.. But I recomend it) To those of you who have read my trilogy, you already know who sin is. This is about him in more detail. (Chapter 6 and epilogue up) I suck at summeries.
1. Prologue

Authors note: Hey people, Im back. And due to a lot of... ahem, how shall I say it... support *cough* threats *cough* from one of my old faithful reviewers (thank you very much Deathzealot!) I've decided to do a little project about some of my original characters from my trilogy. (I swear, I told him it was just an idea threatened me with Fred (inside joke, never mind) and forced me to do it...! Lol)  
  
This probably won't be as long as the story's in my trilogy, but if you like it, I may (MAY deathzealot, MAY) do more. It depends, I will only write what is wanted, so it's your choice.  
  
Let me briefly explain what this little project is... I was rereading over my trilogy, when It came to me that I didn't go into that much detail about my original characters. (Not the ones people submitted, though I should have done a bit about them as well... But the ones I created.) I went into far less detail than I originally intended (Far, Far less.)  
  
I was very... hesitant... to do this project, because after the trilogy I began to feel like using these characters again in stories may make them become very "old" and "over-used." But since a few of my old reviewers (*COUGH* Deathzealot *COUGH*) kept prodding me... I figured, "Hey, what the hell, might as well try it right? If they don't like it, they don't like it and I'll take it down."  
  
Mostly this is for my old reviewers, because they already know who these people are that these fics will be about, having read my trilogy. But of course, I welcome with open arms any new people who want to read them... You won't have to read my trilogy to understand this, I recommend it so that you are more familiar with the original characters these fics will be about, but it is your choice.  
  
Anyways, enough blabbing. You've heard enough of me... go ahead now, read the prologue, and more than ever Im depending on you to review and tell me whether you like it or not pleeeaaasee.. (Flames are always welcome, they will help me cook the steak I have for dinner, though if your gonna flame... be gentle please, don't want the meat to burn. And please, be honest!) Lol, im still blabbing.  
  
First fic is about Sin, and as those of you who read my trilogy know, Sin originally came from the Earth before it was destroyed, so the beginning has very very little zoid action in it... but later on I promise it will have much much zoid action.  
  
On with it already!  
  
~~Luna339  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
"In the fleeting moment of a fright filled nightmare I glanced it..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
As I stand here, prepared to die, I remember.  
  
They say, whoever "they" may be, that your life flashes before your eyes as you die, or, right before you die.  
  
In a sense... just a small sense... "they" are right.  
  
But, these things that "flash before my eyes...", these abandoned memories...  
  
They are not welcome.  
  
They are of the past... and to me, the past is nothing.  
  
To who I am now...  
  
"Sin."  
  
The name I gave myself. The name that fit me so well...  
  
The beam of light that the three blasted demi-humans are disbanding... it was supposed to be the salvation that the earth... No. This is not the earth. The earth was destroyed. I must not get confused.  
  
Zi... The band of light was going to be the salvation of Zi. I was going to be the salvation of Zi...  
  
But, as a human, I met resistance from other humans... Little white pawns in my eternal game of chess.  
  
And now... these fleeting memories flashing before my eyes... they are proof.  
  
Proof that I have lost.  
  
Proof that salvation shall not be found within the band of light created...  
  
Proof, that I am about to die...  
  
They do not see the truth as I have seen it.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
~~~ Authors note: Ok ok, not much, but a prologue. Posting chapter one as soon as possible. Im currently waiting for adult swim to come on, so I'll be working on it.  
  
Oh, and once again, thank you deathzealot for the support, er, threats, er prodding... yeah.  
  
Anyone that may be new, and don't know what the demi-humans are, I'll explain a bit. The demi-humans were created by a man named Luke in the second fic of my zoids trilogy. Half human half zoid in a way... not exactly but close enough. They and a group of characters submitted and created by my many great reviewers from before, fought against Sin. This prologue kind of shows what's going on in his mind during a certain part of the fight. (Another reason I would recommend reading my trilogy, but it's up to you.)  
  
Disclaimer: Only saying this once so listen up, I don't own zoids. I wish I did, but I don't... 


	2. Chapter one

Authors note: Thanks for the reviews, even though I didn't get many they were still great ^_^. Anyways, not much to say cept the usual "Sorry for the delay..."  
  
Here's the first chapter. (Like I said earlier, The beginning of this fic takes place on earth, so there isn't any zoid action at first (only for the first 2 chapters or so). But soon enough there will be plenty of zoid action.)  
  
CHAPTER ONE:  
  
"A time when all that there was, soon to be burned and bathed in the fires of hell...."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"I am a man of logic, and I always will be a man of logic... Every thing about this stupid war is ridiculous. Why do they keep fighting over such matters?" A young man said quietly, is voice both soft and soothing. He sat with his best friend, a beautiful young woman, playing a game of chess. He, as always, played as black, while his friend always played as white. Their games could go on for days on end without stopping.  
  
The woman looked at her friend, her bright green eyes full of understanding. She was wearing her red and black uniform of course, as all soldiers were required to in this day and age... Though she had never seen the battlefield... she was a scientist, a tactician and weapon designer.  
  
"I know that Kyuusai, I've been saying that from the start.... " She hesitated to move one of her pieces, then did so, and continued, "And now, this "ridiculous" war has gotten out of hand. All sides to pride filled and greedy hearted to back down. You know that." She sighed and pushed a lock of short black hair out of her eyes, she looked up.  
  
Kyuusai Itsuro was a tall, thin man, in his early-twenties. He had long black hair that he kept in a perfect ponytail that reached to his mid back, his bangs drifting lazily in front of his bright orange eyes. He too wore his uniform, and like his friend, had never seen the battlefield. They had been assigned as partner tacticians (Along with one other who was currently not present), and always spent their little leisure time playing chess.  
  
He turned his eyes to the board and thought over his move, "I just don't get it..."  
  
There was a sudden whooshing sound as the electronic door opened, and in walked two soldiers. They were in tan uniforms, the color of the lower ranks, and one of them held a long white envelop in his hand. They both saluted, and the two tacticians returned the gesture.  
  
"What is it?" Kyuusai asked.  
  
"Urgent news for captain Kyuusai Itsuro and captain Waki Funahashi." One of the men replied.  
  
Waki, the young woman took the envelope, "That's us, you can go now."  
  
"Yes ma'am." The two soldiers turned and left, the door shifting shut behind them. Waki sighed and tossed the letter to Kyuusai, who was extremely tempted to just throw it in the shredder. He resisted the temptation and opened it, his eyes quickly scanning over it.  
  
"So what's it say?" Waki inquired from her chair back at the chess table.  
  
"It's just..." Kyuusai began, he was about to say 'just another notification of a squad or weapon movement' but had stopped once he had turned the page over. His eyes grew wide, as he realized exactly what it was they were moving.  
  
"What...?" His partner stood up and came to stand next to him, trying to get a glance at the letter, but he was too tall and she couldn't read it. Waki waited for a few moments, but when he failed to acknowledge the fact that she wanted to read it, she began to become impatient. She cleared her throat, finally catching Kyuusai's attention, "What is it?"  
  
The tactician handed his partner the letter, still in a somewhat state of shock. He watched as she quickly read it, not reacting to anything until turning the page over. Her reaction then was quite the same as his own.  
  
"I don't believe it..." Waki stated, looking up at Kyuusai.  
  
"They want to move us to the satellite..." He shifted uneasily, he didn't like it at all.  
  
"It says here that we've been re-assigned to the Lyra satellite and are to report to Tokyo main headquarters on October 30th... that's in two days..."  
  
"I know that..." Kyuusai snapped angrily.  
  
"...I don't want to go to the satellite..."  
  
"You think I do!?"  
  
"No, of course not!" Waki yelled. She cursed inwardly as the door shifted open again, this time to reveal another high ranking tactician. He was short, and well built, slightly older than the other two. His hair was a reddish brown color, and he had kind, teal colored eyes, though at the moment they seemed to be filled with panic.  
  
"Kyuusai, Waki..." He panted, obviously he had ran from where ever it was he was all the way to the recreation room of their small base.  
  
Kyuusai quickly spotted a piece of paper in his fellow tactician's hand, and scowled, "You too, Bryce?"  
  
Bryce looked up at his long time friends in shock, "What do you mean "too"?" He paused, "You don't mean that..."  
  
"They're moving both of us to the satellite..." Waki was almost to the point of tears.  
  
"Damn them..." Bryce threw his letter in the shredder, he then plopped down in a random couch next to Waki, "I have to report to the Tokyo main base in two days..."  
  
"Yeah... us too..." Waki stated.  
  
Kyuusai fumed angrily, why... why had they been chosen to be moved to the satellite? He had always known it was possible... but he had never expected it to happen. It just wasn't logical... unless...  
  
"They said they'd only move people to the satellite if..." Waki began. She looked down at the ground, her eyes finding the tan tilled flooring suddenly very interesting, she was about to continue but was interrupted.  
  
"Im going home..." Kyuusai said, his tone very unemotional. He walked over to a small shelf and grabbed his black leather gloves. His two friends watched him as he put them on silently, and walked over to the electronic door. He pushed a small button and the door shifted open.  
  
"Kyuusai, wait!" Bryce called. He looked at his two long time friends and sighed, "We all know what this means... so, lets just forget about it for now and spend little time together, I mean... We still have two days here on good old Earth, right?" He ran a hand through his hair, "Tell you what, lets go out and get something to eat... my treat... Ok?"  
  
Kyuusai had to admire his American friend. Bryce, no matter what the situation, could always find a way or time to be cheerful and optimistic. For as long as he had known him, Kyuusai would say that Bryce was one of the most happy go lucky people that he knew. And happy go lucky people were rare nowadays.  
  
"What do ya say, come on..." Bryce grinned like only he could. He looked over at Waki and wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders, and began to tickle her, "So lets get going."  
  
Waki tried to suppress her saddened laughter, but to no avail. She pushed Bryce away and looked up at Kyuusai, who nodded, "Ok, Ok Bryce..."  
  
"Yeah!" the American cheered. He jumped off the sofa and said, "I gotta go get my stuff out of the map room, be right back." He then quickly dashed out the door.  
  
Waki smiled sadly as she watched him go, "How does he do that?"  
  
Kyuusai shrugged, "It's his way of coping... you know that."  
  
"Yeah... your right," She paused, "But still..."  
  
******************************  
  
Five minutes later the three tacticians were outside, walking together down an almost abandoned sidewalk. Bryce kept talking about random things, trying to get their spirits up by acting like nothing was wrong, but his eye's gave his true emotion away. He was just as depressed as his two friends.  
  
Kyuusai half listened to Bryce, the other half of his mind buried deep within his own thoughts. The Lyra satellite... the third war satellite launched 2 years ago in the year 2205 by the nations alliance.  
  
The Nations alliance, or N.A. consisted of most the worlds countries, and was an alliance that had been formed seven years before the war started, in 2185. It was formed because of the concern over the planets natural resources... which were now becoming severely depleted. Man kind had spread everywhere, the technology enabling them to move as far north and south as the poles with virtually no danger at all.  
  
This, of course, brought it's own problems. The ice caps began to melt, the ozone layer began to thin and pollution was off the scale over the entire planet... Cities quickly began to form over and under the water, inside the earths crust and even supported by massive beams in the air. But of course, this just caused the natural resources of the planet to become even more scarce.  
  
So, the Nations Alliance began a project to scope out the moon, find anything that might be useful as a resource. They succeeded, finding a metal they named Narinium, named after the scientist who discovered it, Richard Naria.  
  
'How come' Kyuusai thought, 'Everytime humanity does something good, something bad comes out of it?' He was referring to the Narinium explosion of 2188. Spies from countries not in league with the N.A. had snuck into the Lunar base, which, by that time had become both a colony and a laboratory, and tried to steal the large store of metal.  
  
Narinium was highly dangerous in a liquid state, and when coming in contact with certain rare elements or minerals, could combust. The spies, unfortunately, did not have this information because the N.A. was afraid that if it got out to the public, dangerous weapons would be constructed (Not that the N.A. wasn't experimenting with their own Narinium weapons). The result of this was a large, virtually unstoppable series of explosions that destroyed the colony and lab completely.  
  
This caused a large shift in the moons orbit, and in result, the tides of the earths oceans changed, destroying billions and billions of dollars worth of cities and other things.  
  
This, of course, wasn't the only problem. Food sources had become rare, many of the earths natural animals now extinct, and the water supply was awful (Not that it wasn't fixable by water purification systems, but it was extremely costly.)  
  
Nuclear and hydro energy sources were also slowly eating away at the planet. The N.A. soon created the satellites, Vega and Orion to begin trying to artificially recreate pure resources. Soon, people began to migrate and live in the satellites, knowing there was potential danger, but not having much of another choice.  
  
Meanwhile, the Planet was getting worse and worse, and people who were not living in Bio Domes (Large glass domes where the high-middle to upper-class people resided) were beginning to rebel under a man who called himself "Grantu Trogh." He led these rebels against the N.A. He was quickly taken care of.  
  
Then, a breakthrough happened. The N.A. discovered that a certain element (Which was unknown to man until that time) located in Narinium could speed up the natural process of evolution and growth, mostly in plant and micro- biological life. They began to use it to try and regrow natural food and plant sources.  
  
For a while things looked good, until Trogh resurfaced with an entire army of brainwashed soldiers, now with the technology of Narinium weapons (How he got it is still unknown). He demanded that the N.A. make these new resources available to the common people, which, at that time was still impossible due to the short amount they had.  
  
He then waged war against the N.A. and vowed that he would get hold of the resources for the earths people and take over what was left of the earths natural resources (Which was little, but there was some) He claimed to be sent by God himself. (It was thought that his true reason for getting the resources was for his own profit. He was doing experiments or his own with the evolutionary properties of Narinium and clamed to have discover a way to make people live longer.) His technology was incredible. Nuclear weapons had long since been outdated and replaced by both Narinium and fusion weapons.  
  
He quickly became a N.A. threat. Since then the war had been going on. The satellites had been cleaned out of regular people, now used as war bases, and with the exception of the soon launched Lyra satellite, became testing grounds for human cryogenic freezing. Normal people were not ever to be moved to the satellites again unless the N.A. suspected...  
  
"Hey Kyuusai!" Bryce called, snapping the young tactician out of his thoughts, "Where do you wanna eat?"  
  
Kyuusai sighed almost wearily as he said, "Anything sounds good right now Bryce... anything at all."  
  
"You know where I want to go?" Waki asked, her eyes glued to the ground as they walked, "Remember that old place we used to go to as kids? I wanna go there."  
  
"Yeah! That sounds really good. Been a while since I've been there." Bryce clapped the woman tactician on the back, "Sound good Kyuusai?"  
  
"Sure." Kyuusai answered. Bryce soon went back to chatting as they walked.  
  
Kyuusai looked around him. Everything he saw was metal and concrete, no plants or animals existed. He then looked up, the glass bio dome that he was in showed the night sky above, (Which was a dark blueish brown, no stars visible past the wave of pollution) as civilian jets and transports flew outside. They were now in a busier part of the city, people bustling here and there, most in their airships or hover cars, but some walking Bridges came and went from everywhere, reaching the cities in the sky, and the surrounding cities on the ground and ocean. Wires and tubes reached around buildings to the top of the dome, along the bridges and under ground (Which was both cement and metal).  
  
He laughed to himself as he quietly whispered "It's so ironic..."  
  
"What did you say?" Bryce asked.  
  
"Nothing, just thinking out loud." Kyuusai replied.  
  
They soon arrived at the tower where the restaurant was located. They walked in and took a holo elevator (Elevators composed completely of see through components, able to travel extremely fast) to the top floor and into the restaurant.  
  
They ordered a feast, feeling that since they were going to soon be going to the satellite anyway (Which meant no more food for them probably) and began to et. Bryce chatted away, trying to lift the spirits, Waki talking back.  
  
Kyuusai remained silent. 'Its so ironic... this war is pointless now... Earth is doomed, and it's all the fault of a few greedy people..." He chuckled mentally, 'The damn resources that they began fighting over no longer exist!'  
  
***************************  
  
Kyuusai walked into his apartment, a rather large one with three rooms located in the top of the cities southern most tower. He sighed, "Lights." The lights in the room turned on, slowly brightening until it reached his tastes, "Stop." The lights then stayed at that brightness.  
  
He walked over to the window, not bothering to open it (No one ever opened windows anymore, that would have just been foolish!) And looked out.  
  
Like earlier all he saw was metal and concrete. He began to doubt if there ever really was anything but that on the planet. Sighing, he turned and closed the curtains, deciding to go into the spare room he used as a library.  
  
He scanned the shelves just browsing. He had once read somewhere that the earth used to be green and blue, and that plants were everywhere, trees, flowers, grass... things that almost no longer existed. Hell, Oxygen was now recycled, artificially created. It used to be that you could look up and see millions of stars past the atmosphere, and planets far away. Oh, and there used to be a little thing called "animals."  
  
"Humans are foolish unlogical creatures..." He said to himself, no doubt his security system recording it, "I once believed that technology could never get too advanced... but now that I look around me at this dead planet, I come to find that it has..." He sighed, "Its sad really, this planet has given home to us for thousands and thousands and thousands of years, yet all we do is destroy it for our own technological profit. Now look at it! Foolish, foolish creatures."  
  
"And now... they're beginning to move people to the satellites... which means..." He paused, "They are expecting the end of the world..."  
  
Kyuusai cursed as he pulled a random old book off the shelf. Though most information could be found on data micro-laser disks now, he preferred the old books. They tended to be a bit more truthful anyway. He read intently, about time before world war I, how some parts of the globe still remained a mystery. It fascinated him.  
  
He read about all the animals and creatures (livestock was now so rare and only produced for expensive dishes of food), people of the past, new inventions (Which were now so ridiculous they were never mentioned anymore, like the microwave, what was the deal with that anyway?) and how humanity cared about the planet.  
  
The thing that still fascinated him the most was the fact that the globe was GREEN. Not silver and gray, green. How life flourished so brilliantly all due to the plants that existed on this planet alone... Life.  
  
"I wish there was a way to restore the Earth to how it was..." He thought. His mind played with the idea a bit, when something struck him. He began to read more into the growth of these amazing things called plants, and thought about the N.A.'s evolutionary technology found in Narinium.  
  
He let his mind do the work... he wasn't a top tactician for nothing, he was tested as a scientific genius (Along with Waki and Bryce of course), and had helped develop a few things to do with Narinium and fusion.  
  
What if he could find a way to speed up the process used to grow plants with Narinium? There were hundreds of dead cities around the world now (The war had seen to that, killing billions) that could be cleared and regenerated.  
  
But he only had two days... Kyuusai looked over at the clock. "scratch that.." He said, "One day now..."  
  
He began to bury his nose in the books even more, the planet as it used to be completely absorbing him. He yearned to see it. He yearned to see a bird, or a fish. He would find a way... even if he had to do it in one day....  
  
****************************  
  
Waki placed her hand on a small scanner just outside of Kyuusai's door, allowing the computer to check who she was. After hearing the beep of recognition, she waited for the computer to alert Kyuusai that she was there. When the door shifted open she entered, surprised to see the house covered in papers and books.  
  
She walked through the main room and into the library, startled to see Kyuusai with his back toward her, surrounded in stacks of old manuscripts and antique books.  
  
"Ummm, Kyuusai... what's up?" She said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Apparently it startled him and he looked up at her.  
  
She was surprised to see that he had dark bags under his eyes, the sure fire sign that he had gotten no sleep the past night. She took a quick glance at the clock, it was now almost 8 pm.  
  
"Hey Waki..." Kyuusai said tiredly, "You won't believe what I've done..."  
  
"Kyuusai... how long have you been awake?!" Waki demanded.  
  
"Ummm..." The tactician thought about it, "I haven't gone to sleep yet..."  
  
"What!?"  
  
"You wouldn't believe what I found out!" Kyuusai jumped up excitedly, but exhaustedly, "I can fix it!"  
  
"You can fix what!?" She demanded.  
  
"The Earth!"  
  
Waki stared at her best friend for a while, confusion taking over he features, "What are you talking about!?"  
  
He pointed down at a collection of scattered papers that were filled with his handwriting, "I found a way to speed up Narinium evolution..." He said, "I know it will work... and then, the Earth will be like it was before.."  
  
Waki still stared at her friend before picking up the papers on the desk.  
  
"We won't have to see the end of the world... the Earth... it can be fixed... we can save it!"  
  
Waki was busy shuffling through the papers, her bright green eyes wide with astonishment, "Kyuusai... this is amazing... How did you figure all this out!?"  
  
Kyuusai wasn't paying her much attention, "All we have to do is test it... I know it'll work...."  
  
"Kyuusai, Im gonna call Bryce..." Waki breathed, she was amazed at the calculations that her friend had worked out... He was always smart, but this was amazing.  
  
"Bryce... yeah..." Kyuusai said, he looked almost ready to pass out with exhaustion.  
  
Waki walked over to the computer in the room and pushed a small button. A small holographic orb appeared in front of her with a list of choices. She touched the one that said "contact Bryce" and waited. Soon the holographic image shifted into the form of her friend, and spoke.  
  
"Waki, what's wrong?" Bryce asked over the link.  
  
"Nothing.." she answered, "You need to get over here now! You won't believe this."  
  
"What is it?... where are you!?"  
  
"Kyuusai's... just get over here."  
  
"Oh, ok..." Bryce sighed and shut down the link, his image fading from view.  
  
Waki turned back to face Kyuusai, surprised to see him busy entering data onto a theory simulator. He watched it play out, made a few changes, then watched it again.  
  
Bryce soon arrived and went over the papers much in the same way Waki had, amazed at the data gathered.  
  
"One problem though you guy's..." Bryce said, "We're being moved to the satellite tomorrow... where we are going to be..." He stopped, his normally happy go luck attitude gone, "You know what their going to do to us. They're going to freeze us and send us off on a shuttle... How can we get this information out and test it before then!?"  
  
"We can contact the N.A..." Kyuusai said.  
  
Bryce sighed, "You know Kyuusai, Im impressed. Really. I've never seen such a complete theory..."  
  
Kyuusai exhaustedly smiled slightly. 'I know this'll work...'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Authors note: I know it's long, trying to make up for the unbelievably short prologue. Hope you like it, I know there isn't much action yet. Sorry about that.  
  
Tell me whatcha think! 


	3. Chapter Two

Authors note: Man has it been a long time... Sorry about that. I've been sidetracked a lot lately. First with a vacation to my best friends cabin, then with school, then with a nice little thing called writers block. Hopefully this'll still end up ok. Thanks to those few who reviewed (Or emailed).  
  
O_o... I got a new reviewer! Yay! Me is happy now. Hello there Yami no Ryu. Glad to hear you like the fic so far, and have read my other ones.  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
"...Seemed so precious, even if it was truly nothing at all...."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
After seeing exactly how exhausted Kyuusai was Waki had decided to go and get them all some coffee. The steam rose gently as she carried the three cups down the hallway, and towards hiss apartment. Stopping at the door she waited for the computer to recognize her, and after a few short moments it shifted almost silently open.  
  
"Ok guy's here it is..." Waki announced, she walked into the library and looked around, "Uh.. Guy's?" She turned back around to go into the main room, surprised to run strait into Bryce.  
  
"What.. Where's...?" Waki began , careful not to spill the coffee.  
  
"Shhhhh!" Bryce motioned for her to follow, and she did, being sure to stay quiet. Bryce led her to Kyuusai's room and pointed through the door.  
  
"Oh!" Waki whispered, noticing that Kyuusai was sleeping soundly on the bed, "How long ago did he fall asleep?"  
  
"Not too long..." Bryce answered, "I put him in there after he fell asleep at the table... I couldn't just leave him there. He looked really uncomfortable."  
  
Waki nodded and headed over to the couch, setting the coffee on a small table before sitting down. She sighed and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. Different thoughts clouded her mind as she sat there in silence.  
  
Bryce watched this with mild amusement. He too had a puddle full of thoughts to sort through. Kyuusai... he had actually come up with a formula that would do something that the top scientists of the nations had tried to accomplish for so long... and he had done it in one day. Then there was the idea that the N.A. wouldn't accept it, well, not an idea per say, but a feeling.  
  
But why wouldn't they? How could they turn it down. How could they turn something like that down when it could be one of mankind's only chances for survival.  
  
'And if they did turn it down...' Bryce thought, then shuddered, 'cryogenic hibernation.' It was then that he realized just how scared he was...  
  
"Bryce?" Waki had her eyes fixed on him, and he could tell by her expression that she was thinking the same thing.  
  
"Don't worry Waki... Kyuusai has never let us down before, has he? He definitely won't this time." Bryce ensured her.  
  
"I still think it's amazing."  
  
He smirked slightly, as a funny little thought entered his head, "Yeah... me too Waki." He sighed, "Well, we can't contact the N.A. from here, so we'll wait until tomorrow morning and do it from the base. Go ahead and get some sleep, you take the couch, I'll clear up some of these papers and sleep on the floor."  
  
"You sure? I can take the floor if you don't want it." Waki offered, "I don't mind."  
  
"No that's ok..." Bryce answered, walking over to the closet. He peeked inside and spotted what he was looking for. Removing the blankets he threw them over to Waki, who wasn't expecting it. Smothered by the thick blankets she dug herself out then laid down on the couch. Bryce followed suit, and even with all the excitement of the discovery, still managed to fall asleep quite easily.  
  
***************************  
  
It was now 6 am, and the three high ranking tacticians were once again in their home base. Kyuusai had asked Bryce to contact the N.A., claiming that he was a better persuasive speaker... and seeing as only one line from each base connected to the N.A.'s main base in Australia, all three of them could not speak at once.  
  
As they waited, Waki and Kyuusai had picked up their game of chess that was left from before. they played for 2 hours.  
  
Waki made her move, took in a slight breath and stated, "Checkmate..."  
  
Before Kyuusai could look down to see how she had bested him, Bryce made himself noticed by stomping into the room and kicking a decently sized hole in the wall. He cursed and turned his gaze to the ground, trying to hide the tears that had begun to well in his eyes.  
  
"Bryce..." Waki began, "What...?"  
  
Kyuusai on the other hand remained silent. He knew Bryce far too well. He already knew what had happened. He looked up at his American friend, his orange eyes remaining completely calm.  
  
Bryce met his gaze and quickly turned away, not being able to face up to his friends unnerving gaze.  
  
"Bryce!" Waki demanded, "What did they say...?"  
  
Kyuusai cut her off calmly, knowing that she already knew the answer but was just trying to tell herself that it couldn't have happened, "They turned the proposal down."  
  
Bryce nodded, still not meeting his fellow tacticians gaze, "They turned it down and said that they would send a representative to speak with us at the Tokyo base..."  
  
Waki slouched in her chair, tears welling up in her eyes, "I don't get it... why?"  
  
Bryce shook his head, "They refused to tell me why... the stupid sonofa bitches... Damn them all..."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Waki asked.  
  
Bryce remained silent, not being able answer her question.  
  
Kyuusai continued to stare calmly, not letting any emotion show on his face, "We have to report to the Tokyo main base..." He sighed, stood up and walked over to get his coat and gloves. Quietly he left the room and walked outside. He made his way to the roof, and sat on the edge of the building, a place where he often went to think.  
  
"Foolish unlogical creatures." He whispered to himself, turning his gaze up to the sky, and cursing when it was obscured by a supported city and pollution. He stayed silent for a while, cursing humans in all the ways he could think of.  
  
After a while he became aware of a set of footsteps coming up behind him, "...Kyuusai?" It was Bryce.  
  
Not receiving an answer, Bryce quietly sat down besides his friend. After a few moments he stated, "Im sorry."  
  
Kyuusai shook his head, "For what?"  
  
"I tried Kyuusai, I really did, I tried so hard to get them to accept it. And they listened, and they seemed interested... but they still turned it down. I don't know why. One of them even said that it was an amazing calculation, and it could work... But..."  
  
"...They still turned it down..." Kyuusai sighed, "It wasn't your fault Bryce." He then smirked to himself, a tired smile coming across his face, "I can't say that I didn't expect it... But I kept telling myself they couldn't turn it down... I told myself that human beings were not that foolish, and they had much more intelligence as a whole than I gave them credit for." He paused, sighed, then continued, "Yes. I kept telling myself this." He continued to look up at the polluted sky above, the yearning to see the stars from earth hitting him harder then ever before..., "But oh how foolish I myself was. And in the end... I was wrong."  
  
"Don't say that Kyuusai." Waki's voice came from behind, both the male tacticians were somewhat surprised to hear her, "It would have worked. You were not foolish... they were."  
  
"No." Kyuusai said as she sat on his other side, "Your wrong Waki. I WAS foolish. Foolish to try and tell myself that there was no way they could turn it down. Foolish to give them so much credit. Foolish to put so much belief into it. Foolish to ever think that I could fix the world..." He was rudely interrupted by a very harsh slap in the face from his female comrade.  
  
"Stop it right now." Waki demanded, anger overriding any other feeling she had at that moment, "You keep saying you were foolish... But apparently you were the only one who could come up with anything that could save the world. You were the only one to put belief into it... into people, human beings, and yourself." She began to cry, "to believe so strongly in something like that Kyuusai, and to come up with something so utterly brilliant. That is not foolishness."  
  
"She's right buddy." Bryce sighed, "And we believed in it too, we knew that it would work... it was no where near foolish."  
  
Kyuusai kept silent and let his friends words sink in, his face still covered in it's emotionless mask. He had a feeling deep in his gut that kept telling him that they were right, and that what they said was the complete and undeniable truth... but other thoughts kept pushing that feeling away. He kept claiming that human beings were stupid creatures... and he had so much proof of it... all he need do is look around, look around at the earth as it was. A mudball covered in concrete and metal. And after all... he was human as well.  
  
"Kyuusai. You were not foolish, no matter how much you believe you were." Waki stated, "Perhaps human beings are foolish, and maybe, maybe you told yourself that they weren't... Then the N.A. pulls something like this... but that doesn't make them all foolish. Especially you."  
  
Kyuusai nodded, "Thanks Waki." He looked down at his watch, then back up and at his two friends. First to Waki, then Bryce... and that was when another thought, other than the one that told him humans were foolish, crossed his mind... If they were still being sent to the satellite...  
  
There was a pretty good chance that he wouldn't ever see them again.  
  
********************************  
  
"Welcome to the Tokyo main base." A man greeted the three tacticians with a smile... but upon seeing their expressions quickly took it off his face, "My name, is Damien Traskar. You three are Captain lactation's Waki Funahash, Kyuusai Itsuro, and Bryce Garcia, correct?"  
  
"Yes." Bryce answered for them.  
  
"Good. I work with the N.A... I believe they spoke to you of a representative?"  
  
"Your their representative!?" Waki almost blew up, "Then why didn't you accept...!?"  
  
Kyuusai cut her off, "Not now Waki, im sure he doesn't want us to start an uproar right here in the main building of the base..."  
  
"Yes, ah... Itsuro?" With a nod he continued, "Well, Captain Itsuro is quite right, it would be a bit chaotic to start an uproar here, so how about we head up to the satellite. I can explain everything there."  
  
Waki looked about ready to bite the man's head off, but subdued, and quieted down a bit, "Why can't we just go to your office or something?... Do you really want to ship us off that bad?"  
  
"My office, captain, is on the satellite anyway. And to tell the truth, I don't believe we should send people to Lyra... but I can also see that there is no other choice. So please, come this way." He then led them up to the launch pad, where they boarded the shuttle.  
  
Kyuusai was silent the entire time, turning his gaze out the window. The N.A. wasn't going to accept his offer, no matter how much they protested... he wasn't sure as to why, but he knew they wouldn't...  
  
As the shuttle got far enough away Kyuusai was slightly amazed to see what the earth looked like from afar, Yet also disgusted. Unlike in his old books, ones that depicted vast oceans, and huge, beautiful brown and green land masses, this scene showed him nothing more then what he saw when he walked outside his home. A dull, gray sphere covered in big gray domes.  
  
'If they can do that to something that is so precious...' He thought, 'Then perhaps they deserve to die.'  
  
The landing on the satellite went just as smoothly as take off, and the three were led to a large circular room where a few scientists were marching back and fourth between computers, checking to make sure everything was operational.  
  
There were about fifty or so large containers, used for the cryogenic hibernation. Each one had a glass "window" and a small panel covered in buttons.  
  
"I believe you already know what these are..." Damien stated, motioning towards the hibernation containers.  
  
The three lactation's remained silent, and Damien sighed. He told the other scientists to leave the room, then made sure the doors were shut, "Listen," He began, then had to think about how to word his statement, "Mr. Itsuro, your theory was incredible..."  
  
"Then why didn't you guy's...!?" Waki was silenced by a head shake from Kyuusai.  
  
"...But," Damien, "We could not accept it for various reasons... Reasons that I am not permitted to tell you."  
  
"Bull, Freaking, Shit." Bryce said, taking the man by the collar. Bryce may not have been very tall... but he was extremely well built, and it wasn't a good thing to have him angry at you, "Your gonna freeze us and lock us up in those damn boxes, shipping us to God knows where. We definitely deserve an explanation."  
  
After a brief hesitation Damien sighed and nodded, "As you wish..." Bryce set him down, not all too gently, and waited for an explanation.  
  
Damien cleared his throat, "I take it you all know of Grantu Trogh."  
  
"...We're tacticians dear sir..." Bryce said irritably, "OF COURSE WE KNOW WHO GRANTU TROGH IS!"  
  
"Well because of him we don't have that much narinium left... not enough for Mr. Itsuro's theory. That is the main reason why we could not except."  
  
"What!?" Waki asked, "Where did it all go!? Last time we were informed of the stores there was more than enough!"  
  
"Sadly, most of it went into weapons... and also, Trogh managed to steal a good deal of it from the Arizona main base in America." He paused, "And he used it to create more powerful weapons..."  
  
Bryce cursed, "Just what we need... more weapons."  
  
Kyuusai had stayed completely silent, taking all of the conversation in. Then a thought struck him, "He's planning one last assault on the N.A. isn't he? That's why you are sending people to the satellite."  
  
"How did you know that!?" Damien demanded. He looked over Kyuusai then sighed, "Yes. A spy managed to find out that Trogh has plans to annihilate the Nations Alliance in 2 days time from now. You three were the first three chosen to be brought here, and about 40 more are due to arrive tomorrow." He paused, "Trogh won't hold back. He's already got his weapons in position, and sadly enough..."  
  
"You have no way of stopping them." Kyuusai guessed. By the look on Damiens face he could tell that he was right.  
  
After a few moments of silence Damien looked down at his watch, "You have one hour to do what you need to do... from here until then you will be monitored by much more than me, so do not attempt..."  
  
"We're not gonna escape or try anything..." Waki said sadly.  
  
"I really do have regrets about this... But, well." He paused, "There really is no choice."  
  
***************************  
  
The next hour seemed to race by, as the three tacticians sat in a lobby like room on the Lyra satellite. They had been offered a meal, but none of them ate, their appetites really not present at the moment.  
  
When the full hour was up Damien entered the room, and led them back to the Cryogenic chambers.  
  
Once there he spoke, "The process is painless. You will not feel pain in any way shape or form... The three of you will be sent off together, and another group of three will follow you tomorrow. The rest will be sent off in other directions. If you land on a planet capable of supporting human life your chamber's computer will send a signal to any others that may still be in space and they will change course to that planet. Your chambers will open automatically."  
  
"So your saying we will be sent off together?" Bryce said, at least there was a little good news.  
  
"Yes. The chambers were built by three's." Damien answered, "That's about it. Any other questions?"  
  
When no one spoke up a group of scientist gave them each a special suit to change into. They did, then were each led to their capsules, which as Damien had said, were connected by three's. Kyuusai silently laid down in his, Bryce doing much of the same. But Waki was hesitant.  
  
Damien sighed, "Listen, if it makes you feel any better, Im one of the three that are going to be sent of tomorrow to follow you."  
  
Waki cursed as she cried and laid down in her own chamber, and the scientists worked to connect some wires and pipes to their suits, then the doors shifted slowly closed.  
  
Kyuusai was immediately aware of a change in temperature, and began to feel tired. He was aware of the capsules moving slightly, then he began to slip in and out of consciousness. The last thing he would ever remember seeing would be the gray planet called earth. He also realized for the first time that he was scared to see it, scared to leave it... more so then he thought he would ever be. Even though the planet had been ruined. It was then that he told himself, 'No Waki... you were wrong, they are foolish creatures... all of us.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of chapter 2~  
  
Authors note: Finaly, I'll be able to start with zoid crap! Yay. Tell me whatcha think! 


	4. Chapter Three

Authors note: Sorry about the very long delay's between chapters. I have been extremely busy. I have also decided that taking two math classes wasn't the smartest thing to do (It's not hard, it just gets old). Anyone out there who's in high school, if a teacher ever offers to stick you in an advanced class along with normal classes.... tell them "Hell no". Im dead serious. You end up with loads of homework, a very boring schoolday and not enough time to do anything... even if it's an easy class.  
  
Anyways, I've had a pretty lousy time for the past few weeks, it seems I can never get out of my bad mood, every time something good happens and Im happy, something, or someone, happens that ruins it again. So i really do apologize with chapter delays, I know it can be a drag to wait so long for them. But, then again, bad moods make for good moody, agnsty chapters... ^_^. ( I dont know if this'll count as an angsty chap... but it's probably the closest I'll ever get)  
  
Oh, and I would really appreciate it if someone would go review one of my besterestest friends fics... It's extremely short so far, and won't take too much time. If you know anything about Resident Evil (Or even if you don't) could you think about checking it out. I believe it has a lot of potential. His pen name is Ghaghoi, and the name of his fic is Resident Evil X. Please if you have the time check it out... Im asking because he's one of my besterest friends.  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
"and for once... once in my lifetime... I didn't want to let it go..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Damien shook his head and looked towards the floor. He couldn't watch anymore... the metallic refrigerators drifting away through space. His head had suddenly developed a migraine. The only thing he could think about was the looks on the three tactician's faces...  
  
The young woman... Waki, was so terrified. Her bright green eyes showed it so plainly, so openly. She was panicked. Bryce, the American man, had tried to hide it, but he too was terrified. He wanted so hard to be brave for his friends, his fellow tacticians, but it still showed amongst his features what he was truly feeling.  
  
But most of all, Damien thought of Kyuusai. The one who had actually come up with a possible way to perhaps save all of earth... His mind... it was amazing. The way that he could think, it was almost unbelievable. But his method... his one true way for salvation... it was impossible now. Trogh had won.  
  
Then, Damien found himself thinking about Kyuusai's expression. Unlike the other two... he didn't seem to be scared. In fact....  
  
"He didn't seem to have any emotion at all..." Damien said out loud.  
  
"Excuse me sir?" One of the random scientists asked, who had just entered the chamber.  
  
"Never mind. Back to work." Damien ordered, shaking off the sudden feeling of guilt for sending the three young tacticians off into space.  
  
Damien sighed as he walked over to a window, gazing out at the sphere of metallic gray below him. Earth, a place that was once known as the green planet.  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
Coldness... that's all there was... was it death? A dream. Something... a figure... someone standing far away. The figures back was towards him... They stood completely still...  
  
The figure, the dark figure of the person... was waiting for something... watching. They were standing on something he had never seen before... The ground... it was dark, and soft... springy even... little "blades" of something... But he supposed it was only dark because everything else was.  
  
What was the figure waiting for? Should he call out to them? He felt like he already knew who it was... But he couldn't tell...  
  
He decided to say something...  
  
And then, just as the figure turned a gust of wind blew... and a brilliant beam of goldish bronze light spread out from the dark horizon... It illuminated everything. The ground on which he stood, it was much lighter than he original had thought... green... small little green blades that blew gently in the breeze.  
  
The light showed a vast ocean of water ahead of him... glistening water forming small, white crested waves....  
  
What was this light? He paused, and looked back at the figure, who had turned completely back around to face him... He now realized that the figure was standing on the edge of a cliff, a high cliff surrounded by the ocean. He also realized who the figure was...  
  
"Waki!" He yelled, stepping forward... but every step he took, she backed up... closer to the edge...  
  
Something was wrong...  
  
"Waki...?" He stared at her, her short dark hair was blowing gently in the breeze, her slim almost fragile figure shiloted against the bright light that was rising behind her.  
  
Something was very wrong... he knew it, he could feel it.  
  
Her eyes... they seemed to glow slightly, and.. was she crying?  
  
"Waki... what's wrong!?" He took another step forward... and once again, she stepped back. He stopped, she was so close to the edge...  
  
He began to panic. What the hell was going on?  
  
"What... what's going on... Where are we...?" He yelled.  
  
"It's Beautiful Kyuusai... It really is. I wish..." She turned back to face the light, "It could have been Earth..." Then...  
  
She stepped off the edge.  
  
"Waki!?" Kyuusai made a mad dash towards the edge of the cliff, falling to his knees and looking down... But she was gone.  
  
Then he was aware of something else...  
  
Heat... ~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
It was hot... very hot.. when Kyuusai's bright orange eyes shifted open. He wanted to move, to scream, but couldn't find even the slightest amount of strength to do so. His eyes shifted left and right, trying to take in everything that was around him...  
  
Then it hit him... Earth, Trogh, cryogenic hibernation... Waki. Where was Waki?  
  
He tried to take in huge gasps of air... he was having a difficult time breathing... it was so... unfamiliar. The air was different than what he was used to... it seemed to contain so much moisture... His eyes blurred as he suddenly got dizzy.  
  
"Where am I?" He breathed, Slowly lifting his hand up to push against the roof of his hibernated chamber... Opening his eyes he focused on it...  
  
It was damaged, the glass had been cracked, and the metal around it was dented... some large material... stone was it? Was lying on top of it... the latch that held the chamber shut was broken.  
  
It was so hot... he had to get out of the chamber... gathering any strength that he could find, which wasn't much, he pushed both weak hands against the roof and slowly pushed up... A wave of hot, moist air rushed in even quicker than before, and beads of sweat slowly trickled down his face... That was something completely new to him. Such heat...  
  
Finally, after what seemed like forever he managed to swing the heavy door all the way open, and weakly sat up. A stronger wave of dizziness hit him, and he almost felt like throwing up. And suddenly dread hit him... Quickly he looked to his left, the direction that the other chambers were attached to his... and the sight horrified him.  
  
Huge stone boulders had crushed the other two chambers... Waki and Bryce... they were inside!  
  
He tried to stand... and eventually with enough effort managed it... stumbling over the edge of his chamber and into one of the boulders...  
  
He pushed... and pushed.. But it was useless, he knew it was useless... they were dead. Waki was dead. Bryce was dead.  
  
Why? What had happened? Why was he alive? He cursed as he fell onto his knee's tears streaming down his pale face. He clenched his hands, knuckles turning white, and tried to pound onto the bolder... but found himself barely able to do so.  
  
He sat there, for a long time just crying. Oblivious to anything that may have been around him. His two best friends were gone... Earth was gone... who knew where he was...  
  
Then dizziness swept over him again... this time even worse than before... It was so damn hot. Slowly he stood, whipping the sweat off his forehead... He couldn't help them... He could come up with a theory that could save an entire planet, but he couldn't save his two best friends...  
  
"Waki... Bryce... Im sorry..." He choked, partially due to the heat, and partially due to the fact that he was still crying. He collapsed once more, his back against some stone... and slowly closed his eyes... The heat and dehydration was eating away at whatever energy he had left. Unconsciousness had almost gripped him when he suddenly felt something brush up against his chest... At first he thought that he had imagined it.  
  
But it came again.  
  
Slowly he opened his eyes, allowing them to readjust to the dim light around him. Weakly he looked down towards where the slight feeling had come from... There, sitting on his chest was the most peculiar creature he had ever seen... Perhaps even the only real creature he had ever seen.  
  
Breathless he stared at it, awed by it. So delicate... so small... two beautiful colored wings... gently flapping up and down slowly... Small patterns etched into them. It had a small thin black body with what looked like six unbelievably thin legs to his slightly blurred vision. So thin that his skin barely felt them... if not for the gentle brush of the small creatures wings he would have never known it was there.  
  
So fragile...  
  
He carefully took a hand to touch the creature, shaking slightly as he did so. Slowly he slightly brushed his finger against the oddly textured but beautifully colored wings... It was so strange to him, he suddenly became startled when the creature suddenly flew away, fluttering elegantly through the air.  
  
He turned his head weakly to follow it, shaking off the dizziness that threatened to take hold again. It fluttered up, and across the room...  
  
It was then that Kyuusai noticed his odd surroundings...  
  
The tactician was in a room, completely made of stone... Huge sections of the ceiling had collapsed inward, blocking what looked like was once a door. The same boulders that had crushed his friends and damaged his own chamber.  
  
Something strange and green was spread out upon the wall... he remembered reading about something like it once... rope like plants that clung to walls, trees etc... vines?  
  
It wasn't light in the room, but dim... he could make out the edges of things, and could see that he was pretty much trapped within the room.  
  
The fragile creature from before suddenly came into view again and he watched it... Slowly it fluttered upward, towards the corner of the room and through a destroyed part of the stone. Through it shone beams of some strange light.  
  
His eyes drifted slowly downwards... the boulders... he could use them to get out! Slowly and weakly he stood, feeling the sweat run down his face. How could there be so much heat?  
  
He made his way over to the boulders... which, oddly enough, had fallen almost perfectly for climbing. Letting out a tired sigh he climbed on top of the first stone, then the second.  
  
After what seemed like forever he was at the top, all he had to do was crawl over to the whole. He looked down at his chamber... his cold prison... then down at Bryce and Waki's.  
  
"I never did get the chance to say goodbye..." He whispered to himself, closing his eyes he turned his head back towards his exit. If what Damien had told him the previous day was right...  
  
'Wait...' Kyuusai thought.  
  
Previous day...? No.... it had to have been much longer than that... how long? How much time had passed? How many years? He shook it off his mind. If what Damien had said was right, then all the other chambers would have changed course and come to this planet...  
  
He crawled slowly over to the whole, and peered out... And for the second time, became completely breathless.  
  
He sat there, for a long time just staring. It wasn't day like he had originally thought... but night. It was so beautiful... a vast ocean of stars spread out across the sky... something he had yearned to see (while not being in a satellite) for as long as he could remember... The white lights, gleaming diamonds among a vast velvet black blanket that had splashes of blue and violet.  
  
And the moons... On earth there had only been one moon, partially destroyed and not visible from the planet itself. On whatever magnificent planet he had come onto now there were multiple. He was able to see 2, though could not tell if it had more or not, crimson in color. Another strange substance could also be seen among the sky. Fluffy gray soft looking objects... He had remembered reading about once or twice as well... Clouds.  
  
"Amazing..." He whispered as he turned his orange eyes downward towards the never ending horizon. One of the moons was located there, huge in all it's magnificence. A sea of green spread out from there, and towards him. Vines hung down from mammoths of non-metal objects he could only assume were tree's.  
  
Trees. Plants. He had never seen something as unusual or incredible. Huge panes... no he remembered that they had been called leaves, huge leaves sprouted lively from the brown substance that must have been wood.  
  
He had to get a closer look. Jumping down he landed weakly and stumbled upon the ground... which brought a whole new feeling of awe. Brown grains of dirt, leaves, sand, twigs ('made of the tree's wood of course' he thought) and some wetness he had never felt before... The ground was wet... Blades of little green plants, grass.  
  
And then the sounds. Hundreds of thousands of unique sounds. Calls, whistles, something that sounded almost as a person breathing, (He guessed it was the wind, for he had never heard wind before) chirps, cries, the dripping sound of water and so much more came to his ears.  
  
He sat there for a long time, just taking it all in, everything he saw, everything he heard. And then... an odd feeling came to him. Not the nauseating feeling that had come and gone in the immense heat, but the feeling of being watched.  
  
He turned, gazing into the darkness of the plants and sounds, the shadows created by what he guessed was the jungle or forest that he was in.  
  
A new sound came to him... a grown.. no, a growl. He turned quicker, looking into another patch of darkness, and staring back at him were two glowing orbs, perfectly round glowing yellowish orbs... eyes. He heard the soft sound of something stepping towards him... different from a human foot sounded.. almost padded. The eyes came closer with each step.  
  
Finally the owner of the eyes came into view. A rather large, magnificent creature. Brownish-black hair, or fur, covered it's body, which consisted of four powerful muscular legs ending in sharp dangerous looking claws. A long curving tail slowly swayed back and forth, gently brushing against the plants around it.  
  
And it's head. It's beautiful yet powerful head. Two alert ears twitching at every little sound, mounted atop the head, above it's glowing eyes. A mouth, or muzzle, of pure muscle with an odd shaped nose at the end, filled with glistening yellowish teeth. It appeared to be a feline of some kind... a cat, much like those that the wealthy owned on earth.  
  
Only much much larger.  
  
It suddenly growled again, but stopped, and Kyuusai witnessed another cat like creature stumble out of the shrubs, this one far smaller. It tumbled past the larger one, meowed once (it wasn't really a meow, but it's the closet thing Kyuusai could describe it as) and dashed off into another bush.  
  
With one more look, a stern look, almost a warning, the larger cat slowly walked off after it. Kyuusai later assumed that the large cat was the small ones mother. He must have stumbled into it's territory.  
  
He stayed completely still, in total awe of what he had witnessed, almost wishing the creature would return so he could gaze upon it again.  
  
But soon the same sick feeling and dizziness came over him and he became aware that he had to get out of the heat. His breathing was harsh due to it, and the strange sticky moister didn't help. He took one last look at his surroundings, sending a final farwell to his lost friends, and began to walk through the seemingly never ending jungle.  
  
It took a few hours, and after sighting many amazing creatures such as insects, small mammals, lizards, and birds, he began to feel as though he may never leave the jungle which he had found himself in. He stumbled, tripping over roots, rocks and sometimes even small animals, wishing for an end.  
  
And finally, he found it. The tree's suddenly came to an end...  
  
He breathed a sigh of relief, and gazed out before him.. only to be shocked once more. Nothing. Nothing but small gaines of sand, huge dunes of it spread out before him. It was odd, how such a lively place, the jungle, could come to such and abrupt stop and fan out into a desolate wasteland.  
  
The sky was beginning to lighten considerably, (A sunrise was another thing he had never experienced fully), and it seemed he was out of luck. He had yet to see another human... so he kept moving.  
  
Something he realized right away was that without the protection of the trees, it had become even more undesirably hot. The air wasn't as moist, but the heat was even more intense than he could ever could have managed.  
  
He went on for as long as he could... how long he didn't know, until he collapsed upon the scorching ground. The sun was over head now, and it had heated the sands to a burning temperature. Breathing in he accidentally sucked in some of the small grains and began to choke.  
  
Eventually managing to get it under control, he turned to look upward at the clear, cerulean sky that held so much beauty.  
  
Once again unconsciousness gripped at him. It called to him, taunted him, and just before it took him he was awakened by the most unnatural sound.  
  
A grinding sound, a an artificial sound. He was then aware of it coming to a stop, and a slamming sound replaced it for an instant. The the sound of footsteps... human footsteps.  
  
"Dear lord it IS a person!" Kyuusai heard someone say. Slowly opening his eyes he witnessed the blurry figure of a man come into view, "Ahhhhh, he isn't dead!"  
  
"What!?" Another male voice caught his ears, "I don't see any kind of transport or anything around here..."  
  
"Hey can you hear me...?" The first voice asked, it was becoming harder to hear the two as they continued to talk, "Hey man..ca... hear me?"  
  
"...Him into... damn jeep... he'll die of heatstroke... we don't... hurry..." The second voice came again.  
  
"Right." The first was almost a whisper as everything stopped.  
  
**************************  
  
I once again apologize for the long wait, and I promise fully it won't happen again. My computer has died twice now, and even if it does again I will find a way to make it so it won't take so long to update.  
  
Hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving.  
  
Oh, and it's a lot harder than I thought to write about someone that hasn't ever seen anything like a tree or animal..... 


	5. Chapter four

Authors note: I know I told You I wouldn't let it be so long a wait. Im actually pretty proud of myself for getting it done this soon (Even though It's still been a decent wait).  
  
Im actually in a pretty good mood right now because its snowing! and it's actually sticking! For anyone who may live in Michigan (the lower part at least) You know how cold its been. And we have had pretty much no snow up to this point. I was starting to get tired of the 20 degree weather without the pretty little white snowflakes and looking at a bunch of not snow covered trees and dead grass....  
  
I just realized I forgot to take my trampoline down. O_o'. Oh... shit....  
  
Anyways. On with the chapter.  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
"Everything I had come to know... Everything I had come to love..."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Do...think... be ok...?" Kyuusai suddenly became aware of a very muffled set of voices around him.  
  
"Dunno." Came a reply.  
  
The grip of unconsciousness was softening as the young tactician began to wake up. His head was becoming steadily more painful, and he was aware that he was lying on his back. He groaned as he tried to move.  
  
"Hey! I think he's waking up!" The first voice came again, and it was accompanied by a quick shuffle of footsteps.  
  
Kyuusai opened his eyes slowly, glad that it was somewhat dim in the room. He sat up suddenly, knowing he shouldn't have immediately when a wave of sickness washed over him. He ignored it and looked around.  
  
"Hey careful there buddy, you're not in much of a condition to be moving around like that." An oddly accented voice came from his left.  
  
Turning he saw the person who had spoken to him. He was young, maybe a bit older than Kyuusai himself, and had short light brownish blond hair. His face was a bit childish looking, with brownish eyes. He was of average height and weight, and wore somewhat odd clothing.  
  
"Hey there. You had us a bit worried. You ok?" He asked, a slight look of concern crossing his features.  
  
"Where... Where am I?" Kyuusai asked, finding it a bit harder to speak than he thought. He brought a shaking hand up to his bangs, brushing them out of his eyes.  
  
"Siana village, bout a hundred or so miles south of Saurian city." The man answered.  
  
"We found you out in the middle of the desert. Your lucky too, you were pretty far out, and we just happened to be passing by. Jeremy here saw you." Another voice said.  
  
Kyuusai looked up to notice another man, this one slightly older than the first, standing in the doorway. His churlish hair was dark brown, almost black, and he had dark brown eyes. He wore glasses, and was just a bit shorter than the first man. His clothes were also odd to Kyuusai.  
  
Kyuusai also took the time to look around the room. He was lying on a not so luxurious, but comfortable bed, and in the corner of the very bleak room was a small round table. The walls seemed to be made of a clay like substance, and were a warm tanish color. Jeremy, the first man, was sitting on a wood chair next to his bed.  
  
"Yeah, we were on our way to pick up my Saber fang." Jeremy said.  
  
"Saber fang?" Kyuusai wondered aloud.  
  
"Yeah, it's my zoid. Got it pretty roughed up in a battle the other day."  
  
'Battle?' Kyuusai silently pondered. He had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
The second man seemed to notice his confusion, "What's wrong?"  
  
Kyuusai looked up at him, "Uh... nothing."  
  
"You sure?" Kyuusai nodded, "All right. So what's your name?"  
  
"Kyuusai." The tactician answered.  
  
"Weird name. But it's cool. Im Ryan." The second man said, then motioned over to his friend, ",he's Jeremy."  
  
Kyuusai stayed silent, his thoughts starting to clear up a bit. He was trying to figure everything out... but not much made sense to him. How could there have already been houses and cities? Wasn't his chamber supposed to open as soon as it detected that it had landed in a habitable area? Then, the other chambers were to direct course to the planet...  
  
Unless... Unless there had been a malfunction.  
  
"Oh god..." Kyuusai brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his eyes. How long had he been in hibernation!?  
  
"What?" Jeremy asked worriedly.  
  
"Nothing... I... I just thought of something that's all..." Kyuusai stammered. He had tried to cover up his emotions but wasn't doing to well. He was on the verge of panicking.  
  
"But..." Jeremy began but was cut off by Ryan, who had obviously noticed something wrong.  
  
"Jeremy, we need more things for breakfast. Take my pteras to town, and pick up a few things.... Kyuusai probably wants to sleep."  
  
"But..." Jeremy was suddenly hit in the back of the head by Ryan, "Ok Ok Im going, Im going. Sheesh!" He waved to Kyuusai as he left the room, following Ryan, who closed the door.  
  
Kyuusai looked around some more... his thoughts drifting to hundreds of different questions... but one main one kept coming up...  
  
"How many years has it been?" He whispered to himself, rubbing his eyes some more, "How did it malfunction...? Why did I end up waking up now?" That's when another thought hit him.  
  
The boulders... they must have collapsed just prior to him waking up... they crushed the other two chambers, and had damaged his slightly... that must have been the reason he woke up. Then his thoughts drifted back to his two childhood friends, who now lay dead under the pile of rocks.  
  
"Waki... Bryce..." He slammed his fist down on the bed, tears threatening to come to his eyes. He fought them back, focusing his thoughts on other matters.  
  
The one man, Jeremy, said he had owned a "Saber fang." He had called it a zoid.  
  
What the hell was a zoid? He had never heard of such a thing.  
  
But then again he was on a whole new planet, and didn't have a clue about much.  
  
He tried to lay back down and go to sleep, and after quite a while he decided that he was no longer tiered. Why should he be? He was asleep for God knows how long in that cold prison.  
  
Slowly he crawled out of the bed, not really trusting his wobbly feet. He was extremely sore, even though he wasn't so sure why, and he had a pounding head ache. Taking his time he walked over to the door.  
  
It swung open without much effort and he walked down the hallway, and into what he presumed was the kitchen, where Ryan was busy doing something Kyuusai had never seen before.  
  
"Your up?" Ryan asked, "Im suprised. Welcome to my and Jeremy's house. It's not much, but a lot closer to where we found you than our actual team base. Our other team member also lives here, but is watching over the base while we're gone."  
  
"Base?" Kyuusai asked.  
  
"Yeah, our base is a bit west of here.... We were just here in the village cuz Jeremy needed to visit some family, and his Saber fang was in Saurian city getting repaired, so we couldn't be in any battles."  
  
Kyuusai was paying attention (Though he wasn't sure what the man was talking about), while at the same time taking in his surroundings. There was another room connected to this one, where a television sat in front of an old couch. The floor was carpeted, and the walls were made of the same clayish substance the previous room had been. There were wooden cupboards in the kitchen, and a large wood table.  
  
"How do you like your eggs?" Ryan said. Kyuusai noticed that he was standing over a large stove, with a pan in his hand. The tactician shrugged, not really sure. He didn't really ever remember having eggs before. Of course he had heard of them, but mostly the wealthy had eaten them on earth, while normal people usually ate artificial things,  
  
"However you feel like making them I guess."  
  
Ryan nodded and continued to cook. Kyuusai got the idea that this man didn't usually talk much, other than when explaining things to people.  
  
There was a loud, almost screeching noise from outside, which caused Kyuusai to jump. Ryan had seemed not to notice, but if he had he didn't say anything about it, "Jeremy better not have done anything to my pteras."  
  
It was at that time a door slammed and Jeremy trudged, seeming somewhat annoyed, and carrying a brown paper bag, "Your pteras needs an attitude adjustment Ryan!"  
  
"No, it just doesn't like you." Ryan shrugged, "Because you can't pilot it very well."  
  
Kyuusai was at this point, very very confused to say the least... So, these men were pilots? And he still had no clue what a pteras was... he guessed it was some type of hover car, or plane... But how could a plane need an attitude adjustment?  
  
Ryan could tell something was confusing Kyuusai, but decided to stay silent about it, "So... Kyuusai, what kind of zoid do you pilot? Or do you pilot at all?"  
  
"Umm..." Kyuusai wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure what a zoid was, "...I've never piloted one before..."  
  
"You've never piloted a zoid!?" Jeremy asked, "Wow..." He stared at Kyuusai for a long time, "Well, if you could pilot one, what kind would you want...?"  
  
"To tell the truth... I don't know." He answered... After all what else could he say... He couldn't say that he had never even heard of a zoid, and he couldn't tell them why... that might cause them to think he was crazy. If their were already cities and such, who was to say that it hadn't been hundreds of years.  
  
"So what do you do for a living?" Jeremy said, "If you don't pilot, your obviously not a warrior so..."  
  
Kyuusai had to think fast... he had no clue what to tell them... so he just went with whatever came to the top of his head, "Well... Nothing anymore."  
  
This statement confused the two a bit, "Anymore?"  
  
"Umm... my home was destroyed by some bandits..." 'Not too far from the truth.' Kyuusai silently added. He began to think up a whole story.  
  
"Really? I didn't hear about anything like that on the news..." Jeremy continued to prod, "What happened?"  
  
"I lived in a really small town, basically just a village that only had two houses and a store. That's why I never piloted a zoid before, never needed one there. I worked by planning construction to the town... And then some bandits came and put the town up in flames. Like I said, a really small town, so I doubt it'll be on the news..." Kyuusai lied, keeping a perfectly strait face. He had to be convincing... which was rather difficult seeing as he had no clue what civilization was like on this new planet.  
  
"Whoa..." Jeremy was completely absorbed by the story, "that's rough... was anyone hurt?"  
  
"...well... I was the only survivor..." Kyuusai decided was the safest rout. He was proud of himself for thinking up the story so quickly.... "they tied me up and blindfolded me. Then threw me out into the middle of the desert... I wandered around but was completely lost..."  
  
"Well we found you two days ago." Ryan said...  
  
"Two days?"  
  
"Yeah, you were completely out of it. You were lucky we found you when we did." Jeremy added, "Im suprised your up now..."  
  
"Foods done." Ryan said, "Oh, and umm... Kyuusai right?"  
  
Kyuusai nodded.  
  
"Well, Kyuusai, keep in mind that im not usually the one that cooks. Our other team member is. So it's no the best."  
  
Kyuusai was hungrier that he fist thought, and was delighted at the taste of the food, which was much different from anything he had ever had on earth. How this man, Ryan, could say that he wasn't a good cook was beyond him.  
  
Once they were finished, Jeremy showed Kyuusai where the bathroom was, and told him that he could take a shower there and could borrow some of his clothes until they could get him some extra ones of his own. (After, inquiring of course, where Kyuusai had gotten such strange ones like the ones he was wearing at the moment.)  
  
After Jeremy had left, it was up to Kyuusai to figure out how to work the shower. On earth, in his apartment, most things were completely voice activated...  
  
"It's not fusion science..." Kyuusai whispered to himself, "It can't be that difficult."  
  
He fiddled with the knobs a few times until he finally got the water (which started out ice cold) to a temperature he was comfortable with.  
  
After showering he changed into the odd clothes that Jeremy had left out for him, (a pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt that was just a little small for how tall he was.) He decided to leave his hair down, rather than putting it back into his normal ponytail, and turned to view himself in the mirror.  
  
What he saw somewhat suprised him. His strong, orange eyes seemed almost lighter, which he supposed may have been a side effect of the hibernation, and also looked as though he was very tired, even though he was not.  
  
His skin was also much more tan than it used to be, which must have been from being in the desert. He had read somewhere that the sun, at one time, could darken a persons skin, and could also burn them. He realized this may have been why he was sore, and noted that his skin was quite red on the back of his neck and arms, which was how he must have collapsed.  
  
He joined the other two in the main room once more, and decided it might be better if he learned more of the world he had come to inhabit. He released that he would have to be subtle about it though, and be careful to hide any emotions that may make him appear to be strange.  
  
Walking into the other room he noticed Ryan sitting on the couch watching television... presumably the news. Jeremy however, was absent.  
  
Ryan acknowledged him with a nod and Kyuusai stood behind the couch, his eyes focusing on the screen. A young man, younger than he... a teenager perhaps, was speaking. The teenagers golden blond hair was short, and somewhat spiked, and his bright, almost sea green eyes were flowing with an emotion that had reminded him of Waki's own.  
  
His tone of voice however, was clearly confident about something... if not overconfident.  
  
"Who's that?" Kyuusai asked.  
  
"What? Oh, him. He's some rookie zoid warrior named Bit. He just recently joined the Blitz team, a pretty average team... but since he joined, they've been getting a bit of popularity. Supposedly he won his very fist battle by himself, and was the first one to defeat Naomi, the sniper, at her own rules." Ryan stated, like it was something everyone knew, "Though some... well, most, people think that was a complete fluke."  
  
'A zoid warrior...?' Kyuusai thought to himself.  
  
"The Blitz and Champ team battle was very exciting..." The person Kyuusai assumed was the reporter said, "The Blitz teams Ligar out maneuvered his opponent, the champ teams modified darkhorn."  
  
"Me and the Ligar can take on anybody!" The young man, Bit, was saying confidently.  
  
'Ligar... is it a zoid?' Kyuusai questioned silently... and then the screen showed him his answer.  
  
There was a loud roar in the background, as if from a huge cat, as the camera zoomed out.  
  
Kyuusai found himself in complete awe at what he saw.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of chapter 4~~~~~~~  
  
Authors note: Maybe no school tomorrow ^_^. Its still snowing.. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though it still took me a while to finish it. 


	6. Chapter Five

Authors note: Hmmm rant rant rant... Ok.. What should I say? My school is gay...  
  
heh, I rhymed.  
  
Hey, Everyone remember Pyremon Infernos? You know, the guy that submitted Ryuji/Copper and Ayane(Shiva) way back when? Well he's just opened an account on Fanfiction.net and posted his fic about Shiva (Whom was pretty much only called Ayane in my fics) Its very very very very good and I would recommend reading it. His pen name is Pyremon Infernos, and his fic is called Shiva. Give it a read, it is worth the time.  
  
Anyways, next chapter... Warning: this is a very long chapter....  
  
CHAPTER FIVE  
  
"Everything I had hope in... everything..."  
  
"...my life..."  
  
"...it was no more."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A zoid.  
  
A zoid...  
  
Kyuusai knew that's what it had to be... It just had to be. This thing that he saw on the television.  
  
And it shocked him.  
  
He had never seen anything like it... even on earth. An amazing metallic creature, huge... the size of a small building; glowing eyes and yellowish razor sharp teeth the height of a young person.  
  
It was feline shaped, covered in pure white armor. Gears underneath turned and moved, unstopping, almost like it was breathing.  
  
Intimidating.  
  
Its claws were almost as big as the man called Bit. Unblinking, moving so undeniably gracefully.  
  
He couldn't believe the sheer size of the creature. It just kept striking him as unbelievable.  
  
The Ligar, (as bit had called it) bent low, as if ready to pounce, then lifted its head as it roared once again, its deep bellow striking fear into Kyuusai... It was similar to the creature he had seen in the jungle.  
  
Only much more incredible.  
  
The creature continued to roar, as Bit continued to gloat. It obviously had some sort of intelligence, a type of self consciousness...  
  
So was it a living creature? Or just a machine?  
  
It seemed Kyuusai's answer came the moment he thought of it.  
  
The Ligar bent down and nudged Bit, almost lovingly, and the tactician got a clear view of it's glowing orange eyes.  
  
His breath was stopped.  
  
Its eyes, glowing and eerie as they were, were so full of something, some type of strong emotion... They weren't like a biological creatures eyes, they seemed to be glass... Yet...  
  
Yet they seemed alive, completely and utterly alive...  
  
There was a slam of a door that snapped Kyuusai out of his thoughtful trance, and Jeremy entered the room.  
  
"Hey guy's..." Jeremy said, looking over at Kyuusai, "Wow, I didn't realize your hair was that long... anyways, I just got off the phone with the repair company.... They said I could pick up my Saber at any time..."  
  
Ryan nodded and Kyuusai took one last quick glance to the television, but the Ligar and Bit were gone, replaced by a woman talking about how warm it was on that day outside.  
  
"So... Uh, Kyuusai." Ryan said, "What do you plan on doing now?"  
  
"What?" Kyuusai looked at him, realization hitting him. He had nowhere to go. These people had been very hospitable, but what would he do now? He thought about it seriously for a second, and didn't have to come up with a story to answer him, "Honestly... I... I don't know."  
  
There was an uneasy silence as they stood there, unsure or what to say. Kyuusai had no clue what to do, he had no idea what this world was like... And to be in it completely alone horrified him.  
  
"HEY! I KNOW!" Jeremy snapped his fingers, "You could join our team! Or at least come live at the base with us!"  
  
"What?" Ryan snapped, turning his gaze to his teammate, "He's never piloted before Jeremy... Plus I don't know if..."  
  
"Oh come on. You can't really be saying no..." Jeremy almost seemed angry, "He has NO where to go. You heard him... his home was burnt down. We can't just leave him..."  
  
Ryan sighed... Shook his head a bit, then nodded. "Your right...Fine..." He paused, "Im gonna go call the base. Be right back..." He looked once more to Kyuusai, "Jeremy pack up your things, and remember to grab some stuff for him... We'll get going as soon as I come back."  
  
"Right!" Jeremy nodded, "Does that sound ok to you?"  
  
Kyuusai thought about it for a second. He really did enjoy the company of these two, and he had no where to go. He was also very interested in learning more about zoids, so what better way then to live with pilots?  
  
"I don't want to intrude... or be a burden." Kyuusai said, out of politeness. He knew that this man would insist, it was his nature... he was after all, a very kind man from what Kyuusai had seen.  
  
"You won't be, trust me. We aint exactly the best zoids team, but we get by with decent money." Jeremy smiled, then left Kyuusai to go pack his things.  
  
When he was done they left the house, and Kyuusai found himself shielding his eyes from the blazing sun. He was really not used to that. On earth, the sun had been blocked out.  
  
He followed his two new friends two a large garage, and waited as Ryan fiddled with some keys. The dark haired pilot found the one he was looking for, then opened the large steel door. It was pitch black inside... that is, until he flipped the lights on.  
  
Kyuusai found himself in shock. A large creature, a zoid he guessed, was standing not ten feet away from him. This one was far different from the one he had seen on the television, but just as magnificent to the earthling tactician. It was definitely not feline shaped, and lacked the liveliness of the Ligar 0.  
  
It was lightblue with some light bluish green, and had two, frail looking wings. Supported by two sturdy looking legs, the thing towered over the three humans, two of which seemed almost oblivious to the fact that it was there.  
  
Ryan sighed, "We can't all fit in my pteras so... Jeremy, your gonna have to take Kyuusai with you in the jeep... Im sure you don't need me to follow you to the city... do you?"  
  
"Nah, we'll be ok." Jeremy replied, he then took his duffle bag (In which he had packed all his things) and tossed it to Ryan, "Here, take this with you, just leave it in my room."  
  
"Right. See ya at the base." Ryan half waved as he turned and headed towards the zoid, now identified as a Pteras. Kyuusai watched as the zoid knelt its head down, allowing it's pilot to climb fairly easily into it's cockpit (though he assumed it was much more difficult then it looked, and that Ryan had done this so many times before he was used to it.).  
  
With a screech the Pteras came to life, a whirling sound of it's gears and other various mechanical parts came to ear. It moved one strong leg forward slowly, then the other, all the while its "chest" was leveling out closer to the ground.  
  
Kyuusai watched all of this as Ryan gave one last wave, glass cockpit closing over him. There was a huge gust of wind, and a loud roar that drowned out everything else as the Pteras took off, out of the garage, and into the clear blue sky.  
  
And then he realized something... something that both filled him with a very odd emotion, one he didn't recognize... and something that tore at his heart.  
  
He liked this world... perhaps even more than he had liked his own.... This world, where he could shield his eyes from the sun... A world where he could witness an animal in it's natural state, and admire it... where he could see the living plants, the tree's, and the magnificent flowers and vines.  
  
This world... where he could see the smallest most incredible creature, frail and weak yet more beautiful than any gem, fly freely... fluttering gently, and elegantly through the clean, crisp air...  
  
This would, where he could see the sky.  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
It had taken quite a bit of time for Kyuusai and Jeremy to get to the city, and all the while the young tactician was taking in everything he could.  
  
'Amazing...' he thought silently to himself, 'Simply amazing.' He glanced around, and even though almost everything that they had passed had been desert, he was still in complete awe of it. 'Waki and Bryce would love to see this...'  
  
That struck a harsh pain in his heart. 'Waki... Bryce... They won't ever see it.' He frowned, but turned so that his new friend couldn't see his face, and stroked a few loose strands of hair back behind his ears. He probably should have just left it back... now it was just getting in the way.  
  
He continued to think silently to himself the rest of the way to the city, his thoughts suddenly stopping when it came into view. Huge skyscrapers, Glass paned buildings, cars and zoids, fountains, homes, and other various buildings greeted him.  
  
He had been wrong to think that this would was not advanced... it definitely had some technology, though it was nowhere near Earths, it was still obviously decent technology. Some of which he hadn't even thought people would have imagined in this world.  
  
Jeremy drove to the repair shop, and Kyuusai couldn't help but stare at some of the odd fashions that people had on this planet. The sounds that came to his ears were entirely different from what he was used to on Earth... rarely on Earth did you hear children laughing and playing outdoors, running along the sidewalks while their parents followed at a short distance.  
  
He looked up, and on one of the glass paned buildings was a large screen, from their distance he couldn't tell if it was like a giant television screen, or holographic or what. But he could hear over the speakers that he noticed strung throughout the city what the woman on the screen was saying. Once again it was about the pilot called Bit and his surprise win.  
  
"all right, we're here." Jeremy informed, turning the jeep off and jumping out.  
  
They were parked in front of a large warehouse type building, lined with tinted windows, and a slightly rusted metal door, large enough for most any zoid to fit through.  
  
Kyuusai followed Jeremy through the door, and upon entering felt almost claustrophobic. The dimly lit room itself was huge, bigger than most he had seen.  
  
It was what was inside it that made him feel claustrophobic.  
  
He stared at zoids in every direction that he turned to, so many of them, and so many different kinds... all appearing to be "turned off" if that's what they called it. He was amazed at their diversity and appearances. They looked a lot like earth animals, most of them, though he had rarely seen any of the earth animals that they represented.  
  
"Stay here, I'll be right back." Jeremy said. He walked up to a man a distance away, and began to talk to him. About what Kyuusai couldn't hear.  
  
The tactician began to realize that he favored some of the zoids more than others when he looked to them over an over in sheer amazement... He began to picture what type of zoid he would like to pilot, if ever given the chance... there were so many. He then began to imagine what kind of zoids Bryce and Waki might have liked...  
  
'Bryce and Waki...' he stopped looking at the zoids, his thoughts now focused on his two, once life long friends. He wished that they were here... He suddenly felt all alone, not knowing anything about anything. Sure, Jeremy and Ryan had shown their kindness, and he would go as far as saying they had become his friends... Yet he was still alone.  
  
How long had it been since he had been sent from Earth? How long had these people had a civilization on this planet... He was an alien to this world... completely out of place. He felt as though he didn't belong. He was alone.  
  
That one thought, the thought of being alone, scared Kyuusai more than anything...  
  
Then there was another thought... another feeling.  
  
Anger.  
  
Anger at how this started.... hatred towards the war on Earth... He despised how foolish people were. How completely stupid they were. It was human beings that had caused the destruction of the Earth... Human beings that had killed and taken so many lives. Humans were the only ones that did these things. They were the ones that didn't belong... 'Did the animals ever destroy the planet? Did they ever feel the urge to break from the food chain, deciding they were too good for it...?' Kyuusai thought silently fuming behind the mask of calm he wore, 'Granted they were not as intelligent... but human intelligence was our downfall...'  
  
Humans that had caused the entire thing... it was their fault that Bryce and Waki had died...  
  
There was a sudden outburst of sound, and turning Kyuusai saw a large feline shaped zoid come to life... He heard it growl and watched as it took a step forward, the head was open to reveal the cockpit, where a man in a gray jumpsuit was sitting, yelling down to Jeremy. Jeremy nodded, giving him the thumbs up, and turned to head back to Kyuusai.  
  
Kyuusai watched the moving zoid a bit longer as it turned away from Jeremy, and headed out a large, slowly opening door in the back of the building. The zoid seemed to have thick armor protecting it, it's head graced with two, long, lethal looking fangs. It was blue in color, it's eyes glowing a bright green. It's claws made a slight scraping sound against the metal floor, followed by a loud clang as the zoid supported it's full weight on them.  
  
"You like it?" Jeremy asked with a quick laugh, "That's my Saber. We'll go around outside and pick it up in the back."  
  
Kyuusai nodded, then looked around. His eyes fell on two separate zoids, standing next to each other in the dim light.  
  
One was a large aerial zoid, kinda like the pteras, only more fierce appearing. It was heavily armed, and looked as though it weighed a lot more than the pteras.... the most similar thing between the pteras and it, was it's wings. It definitely had more firepower then the other zoids surrounding it.  
  
"Hey Jeremy..." Kyuusai asked, getting the young pilots attention, he pointed to the unnamed flyer, "What's that one called?"  
  
"Hmm?" Jeremy turned his eyes up, and Kyuusai suddenly noted that they got wide in shock, "Oh wow... I never thought Id see one of those up close..." Jeremy seemed completely absorbed by the zoid, his voice barely above a whisper, "It's called a Salamander... and its super rare, and super powerful for a flyer... You have to have a lot of money to get one of these baby's... Not as fast as your standard flyer, but it doesn't need to be."  
  
Kyuusai grinned to himself, thinking, 'That'd probably be one Bryce would like...' He then looked at the smaller aerial zoid next to it. It was sliver in color, sleek, obviously more for speed than the Salamander, its wings looking still weak, yet more solid than the previously mentioned zoid, "And what's that one?"  
  
Jeremy looked at the tactician oddly, "Wow, you really don't know much about zoids do you? That ones a Stormsworder... definitely one of the best dog fighters out there... next to the Raynos maybe. Its got those blades, see..." Jeremy pointed at one of the blades that graced the Stormsworder, "They can cut through just about anything..." He paused, "Oh, and it's fast... Very very fast... though the Raynos is only a little bit faster. Those'll also cost ya quite a pretty penny."  
  
Kyuusai nodded, 'definitely one for Waki...'  
  
Jeremy turned to leave, and Kyuusai followed, taking one last look at the zoids in the building before stepping into the daylight. He continued to follow Jeremy around to the back of the building where they met two men in jumpsuits.  
  
"Here's your zoid," One of them said, walking up to Jeremy, "Got your zoid gear?"  
  
Jeremy nodded, pulling out a small, rectangular device that, "Here ya go."  
  
The man nodded, scanned the gear and said, "It all checks out, your bill will be forwarded to your base."  
  
"Come on." Jeremy motioned for Kyuusai to follow, and they walked up to the huge machine that was in front of them.  
  
Jeremy easily climbed up and into the cockpit, and while keeping it open made the zoid bend down low enough for Kyuusai to climb in... though it was still no easy task. After a few failed attempts, and a few glares to the two men in jump suits (Who were laughing), he finally got in, and sat in a seat that was behind Jeremy's.  
  
"What about the jeep?" Kyuusai asked.  
  
"Rented it from the repair company. They'll take care of it." Jeremy explained, "Have you ever even been in a zoid before?"  
  
"Uhh..." Kyuusai scratched the back of his head, "No..."  
  
"Hmm... well, see those straps on the sides of the seats? Put them on." The pilot chuckled, "My saber isn't the fastest there is... but it can still move."  
  
Kyuusai did as he was told and realized he was a lot more nervous about being inside a zoid than he first thought. He was clenching his hands, knuckles white. He looked around the cockpit, amazed by the complexity. There was a main screen in front of Jeremy.  
  
"Alright, you ready?" Jeremy asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then here we go." Jeremy closed the cockpit, and pushed forward on the controls. The sudden move forward caught Kyuusai off guard and he let out a slight gasp. The cockpit moved with the zoid, which was odd for Kyuusai, because the zoid moved like a giant feline. The slow up and down motion was something new when it came to transportation.  
  
That was when small, holographic screens began to pop up around the two inside the cockpit, and various sounds came to the tacticians ears. He also noticed he could see outside of the cockpit, which somewhat surprised him.  
  
Jeremy suddenly stopped the zoid, as it neared the end of the building, and the gate into the road. Kyuusai looked up and knew why.  
  
There stood the ligar 0, in all it's glory... Kyuusai was even more amazed by it when he could see it up close, and in real life rather than on the television. The zoid just seemed so much more alive than all the others to him.  
  
Bit Clouds face appeared on a small screen, "'Scuse me pall,"  
  
Jeremy nodded, pushed his zoid to the side and let the Ligar pass.  
  
"Thanks." The zoid gave a small growl as Bit's face disappeared as the com- link was closed, and Jeremy continued on his way. Kyuusai turned back once more to catch a glimpse of the sleek white zoid from behind before Jeremy turned the corner.  
  
They reached the edge of the city and Jeremy called back to Kyuusai, "We aren't in the city anymore, so I can go any speed out here, im gonna push the Saber so we can make it to the base before nightfall alright?"  
  
Kyuusai nodded, "Yeah, ok."  
  
"Well, just thought I'd warn you, since you've never been inside a zoid before... its a lot different than a car." Jeremy chuckled and pushed the zoid forward, pushing the controls as far as they would go.  
  
The zoid immediately began to pick up speed, roaring fiercely as it did so, turning it's head towards the sky. Kyuusai was amazed by the sheer power and speed of the machine, his thoughts focusing on watching as the landscape seemed to fly by outside....  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
The sun was just setting on the horizon as the Saber began to slow down, it's pilot lessening the force on the controls slowly, "Kyuusai, welcome to the BattleHawks base."  
  
Kyuusai looked around, not really noticing much around them. To the left was a tall mountain range that was defined with dark, reddish brown, almost vertical cliffaces, "Where is it?"  
  
Jeremy laughed, "Ok, see those cliffs?"  
  
"Yeah," Kyuusai nodded.  
  
"They are the base."  
  
"What?" Kyuusai glanced at the cliffs once more, "How? There's nothing there."  
  
"Heh... See that overhang a little ways down?" Jeremy asked.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"That's the entrance. Up there is a cave, and the base is built on the inside of the cliffs." Jeremy explained, "It used the belong to the Zoids battle commission, but it was shut down because they didn't need it anymore, after the wars with the guylos empire had ended... plus it had become somewhat obsolete... so after one of our team leader's friends did some string pulling, we were given permission to use it as our base."  
  
Jeremy pushed the Saber fang closer to the cliff, and Kyuusai noticed that there was a steep path, just wide enough for one zoid to climb, that led up to the cave at the overhang.  
  
Once inside Jeremy led the zoid across a large cavern, and came upon a closed, metal door. Pushing a small button on his control panel, the door slowly shifted open, and he proceeded inside.  
  
Once again for the day Kyuusai was suprised. The inside of the base was completely different from what he expected.  
  
"This is the hanger... we keep the zoids in here obviously." Jeremy explained, "It was originally used to store approximately 35 large zoids, so it's huge... and only holds our 4..."  
  
Kyuusai noticed Ryan's pteras off in a corner, and all around the room there were long metal ladders that ran along the wall and up to a "bridge," that crisscrossed it's way along the roof of the hanger. There were no doors on the floor that they were on now, so Kyuusai assumed that there were doors up near the bridges.  
  
Jeremy stopped the Saber fang near one of the ladders, opened the cockpit, and made the zoid bend down so that Kyuusai could climb out. The tactician did so, all the while taking in more of his surroundings.  
  
There were various machines and tools around the hanger, used to repair the zoids he assumed.  
  
In one corner was a small, blue, almost slug like zoid. Jeremy told him it was a Gustav, and it was used to transport the other zoids over long distances, usually to battlefields.  
  
A ways away from it was Ryan's pteras. Even farther along was a sleek, light blue and green wolf zoid. Next to it was a large, cannon looking weapon, and some of the armor had been stripped from the zoid, for, what Kyuusai assumed was for repairs. He asked Jeremy what it was.  
  
"That's a konig wolf." Jeremy replied, as he started walking towards the closest ladder.  
  
"Umm... Jeremy?" Kyuusai paused, "I thought you said you only had four zoids..."  
  
"We do." Jeremy was part way up the ladder when he turned to look to where Kyuusai was looking, "Oh! That's Benji's trihorn! He must be here then." Jeremy continued to climb, and Kyuusai followed, listening as Jeremy began to ramble on, "Benji's the guy I was talking about earlier... the string puller. He's basically the one that got us this base!"  
  
Kyuusai continued to follow Jeremy throughout the base, and upon entering a long hallway was startled by the sudden outburst from a room at the end.  
  
"WHAT?! YOU HAVE NO MINUTE MAID!?" An unfamiliar male voice echoed throughout the hall.  
  
"Sorry Benji..." Another voice, this time female, answered... she was much quieter than the previously mentioned male voice, that had been identified as Benji.  
  
"My entire reason for existence has been destroyed..." Benji's overdramatic tone continued to flow throughout the base. There was a loud thud, and Kyuusai looked over to Jeremy, who was chuckling slightly.  
  
"Benji's... a funny guy... " Jeremy said, as he continued to lead the way. They came to an opening in the hallway, which lead to a larger room. Inside were three different people.  
  
Ryan sat, typing something into a computer that was located in the back, the movement of his shoulders indicating that he was laughing.  
  
Across the room, sitting on a couch was a young woman, with shoulder length, reddish blond hair and blue eyes. She only seemed to be about 5'3", and was thin. She was rolling her eyes at the third person in the room.  
  
Who, at the time, was slumped backwards over a chair that was lying on it's side in the center of the room. He was wearing the oddest clothing that Kyuusai had ever seen, along with an orange tie dyed bandana. The man's amber eyes turned to look up at Jeremy and Kyuusai, "Uh... Hi?" He jumped up, strode over to where they stood and held out his hand, "Benji Parks."  
  
"Kyuusai." Kyuusai replied, shaking the mans hand.  
  
"That's a funny name." Benji replied... He shrugged, and turned back to the woman sitting on the couch, "Ah, Well, I must be going April... Things to do, people to see, minute maid to drink... you understand."  
  
April chuckled, "I'll see ya later Benji."  
  
Benji waved good-bye and left, whistling to himself as he strode down the hallway and out of the base.  
  
April rolled her eyes once more, got up and walked over to Kyuusai, "So your Kyuusai? Welcome to the BattleHawk base. As long as you don't mind living with these two idiots," She jabbed a thumb to Jeremy and Ryan (Who had come to stand next to her), "Then your welcome to live here with us for as long as you want..."  
  
"Hey!" Jeremy and Ryan said in unison.  
  
April grinned, "Oh, and... you may want to learn to pilot a zoid. We are a zoids team after all... unless you'd rather be out tactics guy. Ryan told me you didn't know how to pilot..."  
  
"I can do tactics." Kyuusai quickly replied, thinking 'I can easily do tactics... after all, I was a tactician...' Of course he didn't add this comment to the conversation.  
  
"Well, It still may be a good idea if you were to learn to pilot... Just in case." Ryan added, "Having three people on a team who can fight is good... having four is better in case one of the three get disabled."  
  
"That's true." April agreed, "That ok with you?"  
  
Kyuusai nodded, keeping a calm face. Of course he was ecstatic about the current situation. Piloting a zoid would be something so new and incredible for him. He felt as though he'd burst with excitement if he didn't keep his calm act up, "Sure."  
  
"Sounds like it's set then. Are there any zoids in particular you have a liking for?" She paused, "No wait, let me rephrase that... Are there any zoids we might be able to afford that you have a liking for...?"  
  
The conversation was suddenly haulted when a loud beeping noise erupted, coming from a small, holo screen that was in the front of the room. A somewhat worried face suddenly appeared on the screen, "Hey, anyone there?"  
  
It was an older man, late forty's perhaps, with graying, short brown hair and faded green eyes.  
  
"Come on, please say your there..." He continued.  
  
"Yeah.." April quickly made her way to the front of the room, so that she was facing the screen. The man's expression seemed to calm considerably.  
  
"Thank goodness." He sighed, just as Ryan and Jeremy dashed up behind their team leader.  
  
"What's up, Lam?" April asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Hey Lamium." Jeremy added, and Ryan nodded.  
  
Kyuusai approached and stood next to the other two men in the room, keeping his ears open to his new comrades conversation, but still glancing around to take in more of his new home.  
  
"I was worried they'd already gotten there..." Lamium replied, "But they haven't."  
  
"Who, Lam?" April suddenly became much more serious. Kyuusai couldn't help but glance over at her. Her tone had changed quite considerably, and he had a strong suspicion that she may have already known who the man, Lamium, was talking about. And another thought kept hitting him... Lamium looked familiar... he didn't know how... he just did.  
  
"Drais and his gang. They came by here looking for you..." Lamium continued, "I think they may be going there now... I wanted to warn you..."  
  
"Right. Thanks Lam." April smiled, "You don't have to worry about me, I'll be all right... Drais doesn't scare me any."  
  
"April, don't get careless... Drais works for Gabrielle... remember that."  
  
"And Im not afraid of her either." April became serious again, "Lam, im a big girl now. Please don't worry yourself over me so much."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I'll come visit you later, ok?" April flashed another smile as she turned and walked away, heading back towards the hallway that Kyuusai had come in from.  
  
Once she was gone Ryan sighed, "Don't worry about her Lamium... We'll watch her and make sure nothing happens."  
  
"I can't help it..." Lamium replied with a sigh, "She's going to get herself hurt."  
  
"No she won't. April's a smart girl." Jeremy added, "You know that better than anyone."  
  
"Your right..." The older man shook his head, "But... well.. Yeah... your right."  
  
"Like I said, we'll make sure nothing happens," Ryan grinned.  
  
Lamium nodded, suddenly noticing Kyuusai, "So... who's he?"  
  
"Our new team member," Jeremy replied, "His names Kyuusai,"  
  
Lamium gave a slight nod towards Kyuusai, "So your on the BattleHawks now..."  
  
Kyuusai nodded, and Lamium continued, "You better help the boys take care of April."  
  
"Lamium, stop worrying about April!" Ryan insisted, "We're gonna go now... we need to get Kyuusai a zoid."  
  
Lamium nodded, and his face disappeared from the screen, leaving behind a short after image that quickly faded as well.  
  
Ryan sighed, and shook his head, then turned and walked over to one of the couches. He fell back into it, "Great. Now we're gonna have to deal with Drias..."  
  
"Im gonna go check on April." Jeremy said, heading towards the exit.  
  
"Who's Drais?" Kyuusai asked Ryan as he watched Jeremy leave.  
  
"The leader of some team that doesn't like us." Ryan answered, "They work for this organization... can't remember the name... but some lady named Gabrielle runs it. April's dad used to be in a lab that was destroyed by them. Apparently Gabrielle was only after one of the scientists, and low and behold he wasn't even there the day she attacked the lab."  
  
"So April's father died?"  
  
"Yeah. His body was found... it wasn't a pretty sight. Gabrielle I guess used to work with them, so she easily got in and placed a bomb in the center of the complex. I don't know all the details, and neither does April really. Drias was there as well, I guess he also attacked the lab." Ryan paused, "April's dad would have survived if it wasn't for Drias."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"Drias recognized April's last name as one of the scientists that died in the explosion. Then she comes along and kicks his ass in a battle, and now he really doesn't like her. Not to mention Gabrielle has a thing for wanting to start some kind of war I guess, which'll never happen. She's too weak and the ZBC is too powerful... who knows. Don't worry about it too much. Drias always wants to cause trouble, but he won't do anything. He makes threats, but never follows through with them. He's afraid to, in case his boss'll get mad at him."  
  
"Are you sure about that?" Kyuusai asked.  
  
"No." Ryan sighed, "Im more worried about April doing something than Drias. Drias may not have the guts to live up to his threats... but she does."  
  
"Uh.. guys..." Jeremy burst into the room, "She's gone."  
  
Ryan quickly jumped up, "Sorry about this Kyuusai, I bet you weren't expecting this much trouble in joining our team."  
  
"No I wasn't, but I'll do what I can to help." Kyuusai replied. His thoughts racing now... not so much on the Drias and April deal... more so to what Ryan said about this woman, Gabrielle. 'A war'... he thought.  
  
"Stay here. Drias doesn't know the exact location of the base... I don't get why Lam was so worried." Ryan said, "We'll be right back."  
  
"Alright..."  
  
Kyuusai sat down on one of the couches, his thoughts flooding his mind now. Thoughts he couldn't control...  
  
Anger, hatred, sadness, regret...  
  
It was like a jumbled mess inside his head.  
  
"It was because of a damn war..." He whispered to himself, "That Waki and Bryce died. A war is created by humans... humans are so foolish." He sighed, "What other creature hurts others of it's own species... just for the sake of hurting them. After all, is that not what a war is? If it wasn't for people, foolish humans and their superior minds Earth would still exist." He then stayed silent for a long time.  
  
He wasn't sure how long... he just sat there. Thinking.  
  
Thinking was beginning to become his greatest enemy. It was his thoughts that haunted him about Bryce and Waki, his thoughts that drove him to hate how foolish humans were. Why did he keep thinking about it? Of course, for him, it was mere days ago that fate had taken a wrong turn for him.  
  
But in reality...  
  
How long had it been? How many hundreds of years...? How many thousands?  
  
Great... now he was thinking about being frozen. Frozen in that damned refrigerator...  
  
"Dammit April!" A sudden shout echoed throughout the base. It sounded like Ryan.  
  
"I didn't do anything." April replied, a lot less anger in her voice.  
  
"You left without telling anybody, while Drias is running around..." Jeremy replied.  
  
"I didn't go looking for him!" April was yelling this time, "Who do you think I am...? Do you think im stupid!?"  
  
"No..." Ryan and Jeremy said in unison.  
  
"Then why the hell are you scolding me for something im too damn smart to even think about doing!" April yelled back, this time she seemed very angry, "Im not scared of Drias. Im not scared of anybody.... but that doesn't make me dumb enough to go chasing after them! Lamium put you up to this didn't he!?"  
  
"No." Jeremy replied, "We went after you after we saw that you were gone!"  
  
"Figures... Your just like Lamium! Im able to take care of myself. Im not stupid. Im not gonna do something stupid. And Im fine! Happy!?" There was a short pause, "Good. Im leaving."  
  
"What?" This time it was Ryan.  
  
"I told Lamium I was gonna visit him." April replied, a lot less furiously than she had been earlier, "Listen, like I told him earlier, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be back in a little bit."  
  
There was a moment of silence, and then Ryan and Jeremy both entered the room. Jeremy sighed and plopped down on the second couch, while Ryan shook his head and said, "Im gonna take a shower and go to bed, goodnight."  
  
"Night." Jeremy replied, and he quickly brushed a hand through his hair. He turned to look at Kyuusai, "Sorry about that."  
  
"About what?" It really hadn't bothered Kyuusai that much... it had been his own thoughts, if anything, that had bothered him. For some odd reason... his thoughts were starting to worry him.  
  
"The yelling." Jeremy replied, "I promise it doesn't happen often. That's the first time we've heard about Drias for a while... It just kinda had us all uptight."  
  
"The yelling didn't bother me." Kyuusai replied... a thought suddenly struck him, "You guy's are all real good friends, huh?"  
  
"Yeah..." Jeremy grinned, "We have been for a long time. We've known each other since April's dad died and she went to live with Lamium."  
  
"Ryan told me about her father being dead, but not about her living with Lamium."  
  
"We all did at one point." Jeremy told the tactician, "That's how we met each other... the three of us have been almost insuperable ever sense."  
  
"Wow..." Kyuusai sighed... it reminded him of Bryce and Waki.... and once again his thoughts drifted to Earth, and his old friends.  
  
His friends that were dead now.  
  
"You guy's care about each other a lot... huh..." Kyuusai asked.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~  
  
Kyuusai woke up in a cold sweat... again... like he had the previous night, and the night before that, and every night before that for the past year... Only it was getting worse and worse with each passing night.  
  
He had been living with the BattleHawks for near a year and a half now. He had eventually gotten a shield ligar, and had become an average pilot... though he was still the teams main tactician. They had become amazed with the plans he could come up with... his intelligence.  
  
Human intelligence.  
  
He cursed. Every night he dreamed of it.. and every night it became more intense... it was horrible.  
  
He kept dreaming about the destruction of Earth, and being frozen... and every night his mind and body were flooded with emotions he didn't want... anger, hatred, sadness and regret.  
  
Why did they keep haunting him!? Did Waki and Bryce hate him now? Did their ghosts come to taunt him night after night because they had died and he hadn't? Did they hate him because he had become friends with his new team?  
  
He shoved himself violently out of bed. Why was it every night this kept happening? He slowly trudged the the bathroom... he knew what to expect...  
  
Next would come the migraine... Then he would get sick...  
  
Why?  
  
He cursed under his breath as he gripped the side of his head. It was a migraine to kill all migraines. And it pounded at his skull as if it were a door that it was trying to break down.  
  
"Damn..." He whispered, finally making it into the bathroom and closing the door. He knelt over the sink and closed his eyes as his head continued to pound.  
  
Why was this happening? The only thing he could think of was that it was a side effect...  
  
A side effect to the hibernation he had endured.  
  
He had finally discovered that it had been at least 5000 years since he had left Earth. Zi didn't have any records that he could find before that... so he had no clue to the exact number. He would place any bet that it was probably much longer than that...  
  
He coughed as he began to feel a strong nausea wash over him...  
  
Looking up he noticed something that he had noticed a year and a half previous, when he had first joined up with the BattleHawks.  
  
His eyes had continued to get lighter... they were loosing the orange color that they once had... and he had noticed he had become considerably more thin than he used to be...  
  
His comrades hadn't noticed it seemed...  
  
Another wave of pain flushed through his head and he let out another curse... It would be over soon... he knew it would... it always ended soon...  
  
With the pain came the emotions again. He didn't want them. He wanted them to just go away...  
  
And slowly it subdued...  
  
When he knew that it had completely gone away he left the bathroom and made his way slowly to the kitchen. It was something he had gotten used to doing every night. Every once and a while one of the others would be up, but not very often.  
  
There had been a few other Drias threats, but Kyuusai had yet to actually see the man. It seemed that whenever he was out, April disappeared. She always came back, and never went after him.  
  
Lamium was always worried about it. Kyuusai had come to believe that he thought of the other BattleHawks as his own kids, even though they weren't.  
  
After Kyuusai had gotten a glass of water, he returned to bed, knowing he was ok for the rest of the night...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*End of chapter 5.  
  
Ok, that's not where I was planning on ending it... but now it ends there. It was getting too long... I believe there will be one more chapter, and an epilogue. (But not positive yet. More than likely it'll be a long chapter as well)  
  
Oh, and did anyone recognize the cameo? Well if you ever read Wolfkcing's anizoids fic, then you should! It's Benji! My fav. Character from his fic! If you haven't read it, and are interested, go here 


	7. Chapter six

Authors note: Hey all. I know it's been awhile... sorry about that. But I do have an actually good excuse this time. I got a job! Oh, and I just got out of school! Yay!  
  
Glad you all liked the last chapter, I know it was long... sorry about that. And i'll have to apologize... this ones a whopper too.  
  
CHAPTER SIX  
  
"...But it was only a nightmare..."  
  
"...All nightmares must eventually end..."  
  
....................................................  
  
It was starting to become unbearable to Kyuusai.  
  
The nightmares... the migraines.. the sickness... it was getting worse...  
  
He feared he was starting to loose his mind. At times, he would just kind of zone out and think he was back on Earth. He sometimes became confused... and didn't know what to do. He always thought about Bryce and Waki....  
  
It seemed his only sanity anymore was his three new friends... His team, the Battlehawks. And he knew, that if all the confusion would just go away.... he'd be happy... happy living with these people, in this world that he had come to. Grief for the Earth and his old friends would pass, and he would remember them in his heart...  
  
But for some damn reason... the confusion just wouldn't pass. He could never truly be happy if his thoughts were constantly bombarding his mind about Earth... And it drove him to become very angry at times.. blaming humans and their foolishness.. He started keeping a journal... to take his mind off the past. But it didn't seem to work. He usually ended up writing about something on Earth... or about Earth.  
  
"Why...?" He asked himself one morning, as he walked down the hall. He was startled to hear April yelling...  
  
"I'll kill him!" April yelled, and the sound of struggling followed. There was a yelp from what sounded like Jeremy, and a huge thud, with a crash that sounded like a vase or something had crashed to the floor, "Let go of me this instant!"  
  
"Calm down April!" Ryan yelled back.  
  
"Screw you! Let me go you asshole!"  
  
"Not until you calm down!" Ryan seemed to be the calmer of the two... There was another fit of struggling... a sound of someone being pushed into the couch, and crying...  
  
Kyuusai rushed down the hallway and looked into the room. Jeremy was obviously in pain, and it appeared that he had received a blow to his... nether regions... Ryan was forcefully holding a very angry, struggling April down on the couch. To the left of the couch a bowl that had held candies had crashed to the floor, sending the small, chocolate treats everywhere.  
  
"Let go!" April continued to scream, as Kyuusai approached. He looked at her and was surprised to see tears rolling down her cheeks.  
  
"NO!" Ryan yelled back, "April, you have to calm down, now!"  
  
"What happened?" Kyuusai asked Jeremy, who had started getting to his feet.  
  
"She kicked me!" Jeremy cringed...  
  
"No, I meant what happened that's making her so upset?" Kyuusai answered.  
  
Jeremy was silent, Kyuusai had guessed that it was something he was upset about too. Getting no answer from him, Kyuusai was rather surprised to hear it coming from April.  
  
"That damn asshole... I'll kill him..." She sobbed, she had been struggling until now, and it seemed that she had realized there was no way she was going to get loose from Ryan, who was bigger and stronger than she was by far, "Kyuusai... Drias... Drias... he attacked Lam..."  
  
"What?" Kyuusai was shocked.  
  
Ryan frowned, "Calm down April. Lamium is still alive. Calm down..."  
  
"I'll kill him... I'll show him. He... He" She had completely stopped struggling, and Ryan slowly, and gently let go of her arms. She had a couple bruises, which showed just how roughly Ryan had to hold her so she wouldn't get away...  
  
"April..." Jeremy looked over at her, he too was rather upset.  
  
"Shhh..." Ryan knelt down in front of here and tried to get her to stop crying, "Lam's gonna be ok. He's alive.. We'll go see him in the hospital once you calm down, ok?"  
  
April pounded her fist into the couch, and continued to sob, "He... He..."  
  
"It's all right..." Jeremy said, he tried to perk up, "How about some breakfast, You've been up for a while now, I know you must be hungry."  
  
Ryan nodded at Jeremy like it was a good idea, and then sighed, standing up, and scratching the back of his head, "April, you can't do anything stupid, you know that."  
  
"Shut up." April had stopped crying, and was now sitting with her head against her knee's, buried in her arms.  
  
Ryan sighed again and shrugged to Kyuusai, then went to help Jeremy with the breakfast. Kyuusai, unsure of what to do, sat down on the couch and turned on the television.  
  
It was silent the entire time Jeremy and Ryan cooked, and halfway through breakfast. April hadn't really eaten much, when she decided she'd rather go sit in the main room and watch television.  
  
"Why does he keep getting away with doing things like that?" Jeremy sighed.  
  
"He works for a big organization right?" Kyuusai asked, Ryan nodded, "He's only one member then. If they plan on starting a war, the ZBC would be more focused on the organization itself rather than the individual people. If one member of this organization keeps causing "annoyances" they will probably just hold out, and try and stop the main organization. With no organization, there are no members, and there is no threat. Then they would take care of those who continued to cause trouble."  
  
"What?" Jeremy seemed confused.  
  
"Well, think of it this way. When you go after a bee's colony, you don't go after each individual bee. Yes, they sting, but they are tolerable until you can disband them. You go after the queen. In this case, Gabrielle. If you get rid of the queen, the bee's have no one to take orders from." He paused, "The organization would scatter... They would stop, because they no longer have the protection of Gabrielle. Then the ZBC would bother with the small fries." He stopped to think, "Unless they were easy to catch and dumb enough to get caught.."  
  
"That's bullshit." Ryan said.  
  
"Well, if Gabrielle wants a war, that's how war is played. Smaller armies don't matter. Lets say there are three major countries against a more powerful "good" force. Lets say one of these countries leads the others, and is busy taking things over. It is the strongest, "Kyuusai explained, "Sure, the good guy's would hold back the smaller armies, but they would not attack them directly. They would hold them off just enough to stop them from gaining power that is enough to cause a threat. Then, they would proceed with the main mission, which would be to take out the strongest enemy first. With no leader, the other countries would either scatter, surrender or try to fight, but would loose very very quickly. Usually in war surrender is the best option." Kyuusai was basing this analysis somewhat on one of the ancient wars on Earth, World War II, where a man named Hitler was the threat. He didn't state this though, because the others would know nothing of World War II.  
  
"It's like a big game of chess. You go after the king, sacrifice your pieces when you need to, and only take out those in your way. If you see some pieces gathering up or getting dangerously close to your king, you worry about them, but only until they are no longer a threat... then you just go after the opponents king again."  
  
"How do you know so much about war?" Ryan asked.  
  
Kyuusai grinned slightly, almost dumbly.  
  
Trying to hide the fact that he was a war tactician and scientist was not an easy job, and he didn't want to blow his cover by seeming like he knew to much, "Uhh... It was a major point of interest for me growing up... I liked learning and reading about wars and tactics and such...."  
  
"But that's not exactly right is it?" Jeremy asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kyuusai replied, curious. His analysis had seemed fairly accurate to himself.  
  
"Well, you said that people only worry about the big threat. Well... It's like if you think about the war with Van Fly-height. He was one individual person, on the loosing side of the war... yet twice he was able to defeat the strongest power in the world. The deathsaurer. Yes, he had friends and people that had helped him, but compared to the power of the deathsaurer they were nothing. Uhh... I guess kinda like a pawn winning over a king."  
  
Kyuusai was a bit intrigued by this. He had read about the war with the monstrous zoid, the Deathstinger, and the hero, Van Fly-height... yet he did not read into the details. He would have to at one point.  
  
"Well, whatever. It doesn't really matter." Ryan said, "Drias is able to get away with the things he does for whatever reason." He noticed everyone else done, then nodded, "Lets go to the hospital to see Lamium.." He picked up the plates and Jeremy and Kyuusai both went to their respective rooms to get ready. April did the same, and soon, they were off to Saurian city.  
  
...............................................  
  
They had decided to take the gustav, and had gotten to the hospital within a few hours. April had remained quiet the entire time, while Jeremy, Ryan, and even Kyuusai had tried to cheer her up.  
  
Once at the hospital April rushed up to Lamiums room, the others following at her heals. She entered the room and shivered as the burst of air conditioning hit her. Lamium was lying in the bed, watching television. As soon as he had heard the doors swoosh open he had turned to see April standing there with tears in her eyes.  
  
"Hey sweetheart..." Lamium said, sitting up. He cringed a bit, "Im glad your ok."  
  
"Shut up you stupid old man." April said rushing over to the side of the bed and giving him a gentle hug, "Im so glad your ok..."  
  
"Of course I am." Lamium smiled, stroking April's hair, "Nothin but a few bruises, burns and 2 broken ribs. Oh, and a minor concussion."  
  
"I can't believe he actually went after you." Jeremy stated as he entered the room. Ryan gave a slight wave, and Kyuusai followed them silently.  
  
"Oh, you all came?" Lamium asked, then smiled, "Well then, hello everyone. Take a seat."  
  
Everyone sat down and talked for a while, about various things. Apparently Drias had set fire to Lamiums home, then jumped him when he had tried to make his escape.  
  
"That's horrible..." April was almost to the point of tears again, "Lam... Im sorry... it's me he's after..."  
  
"Stop that." Lamium's voice cut her off sharply, "It is not your fault, nor has it ever been. Drias is a cruel man, he has no reason for his actions, you, above everyone else should know that."  
  
"Lam... He went after you to get at me..."  
  
"April!" It was Lamiums turn to become angry, "Do not say another word. I will not argue with you... It was not your fault. Don't turn your head away from me young lady... Look at me. There. Now you listen to me. If I hear of you doing anything to try and get back at Drias for this..."  
  
"I won't do anything Lam... But now you listen to me, sir." April sneered, and looked him strait in the eye, "I swear if he ever does anything to you again he will be sorry. I will not let him get away with it. He has taken everything from me. He will not take you as well." With that she left, slamming the door behind her.  
  
"We better get going Lamium..." Ryan said, "Im glad your all right."  
  
"Of course." Lamium sighed, "And you and Jeremy better not do anything either... you hear me?"  
  
"We won't Lam." Jeremy assured him, "You take it easy all right."  
  
Ryan and Jeremy turned to leave, and Kyuusai was about to follow them.  
  
"Kyuusai... can I talk to you alone for a minute..." Lamium said, his voice sounding oddly hollow... It alone almost startled the young (or old, depending on how you were to look at it) tactician. Jeremy and Ryan paused, turning back to see what was going on.  
  
"Uhh... sure..." Kyuusai said quietly, facing Lamium.  
  
"Jeremy, Ryan, you two go ahead. I need to speak with him about something private. And I don't want you listening. If you do, I'll have a nurse escort you outside."  
  
"Ok... Uh... we'll be waiting at the gustav Kyuusai..." Jeremy shrugged, and followed Ryan out the door..  
  
Lamium shoved himself out of bed, cringing irritably. Kyuusai wasn't sure what to do, and tried to help the man up. Lamium refused, stumbled a bit, then slowly made his way over to the door. He looked down the hallway, pleased to see Ryan and Jeremy had followed his wishes.  
  
"They're good kids..." Lamium sighed, his older age showing in his face, "They've always been good kids. Couldn't have asked for better even if they were my own kids..." He turned to face Kyuusai, an almost desperate look on his face, "Kyuusai... I... I want you to forgive me..."  
  
"What?" Kyuusai wasn't catching on...  
  
"April, Jeremy and Ryan... They are such good young people... always caring about others... and they are the best of friends... so close... I want you to leave the Battlehawks Kyuusai."  
  
"Sir?" Confusion swept over Kyuusai. What was Lamium talking about? "What are you saying... why do you want me to forgive you?...for what? Why do you want me to leave them?"  
  
"April was always a loner you know... When she first came to me, she was so quiet. And, believe it or not, a little brat. But I couldn't blame her.... No family left. Drias had taken it from her..." Lamium walked over to the window, and glanced out... he could see the gustav from his room, "She hated me... though not in the sense that you normally hate someone... She hated me because... because I wasn't her father."  
  
Kyuusai remained silent. Lamium was an intelligent man... and Kyuusai was sure there was a point to this story. But his statement about leaving the battlehawks baffled him. Why? Why did he want him to leave the team?  
  
"She used to be so mean to Jeremy and Ryan.. you know, girls grow up first... she, at one time was much bigger than them, height wise anyway, and she used to think that made her dominant over them. She was so mean... I remember one time... well... never mind.. I don't think they'd appreciate me talking about that... but anyway... She eventually grew more mature... and eventually, she realized... Well, I guess she released that Jeremy and Ryan were the closest thing to family she could claim having... and after that, well, you see how close they are."  
  
"Almost inseparable..." Kyuusai's thoughts had drifted once again back to earth... and without thinking, the young tactician whispered, "Like Bryce, Waki and I..." He immediately slapped himself mentally, releasing he had said it out loud.  
  
Lamium nodded, suddenly growing more serious, "Yes. Miss Waki Funahashi, and Mr. Bryce Garcia."  
  
Kyuusai's eyes widened. No one on Zi knew those names. They were gone. They had not been spoken aloud since the Lyra satellite. A shot of confusion, fear and unease ran strongly through his spine.  
  
"I know who you are Mr. Itsuro. You... You are an Earthling... one of the original humans to land on Zi."  
  
"H..." Kyuusai stopped. He was too shocked to even finish asking how.  
  
"You were one of the first three humans from the planet of Earth, the humans original planet, to be cryogenically frozen and sent into space. Kyuusai Itsuro, the top ranking tactician on Earth. You came up with the theory that could save the entire planet. A young, Japanese tactician for the N.A...."  
  
Kyuusai took a step back, his ever lightening orange eyes almost fearful... he tried to regain his composure, "No... No... I have no clue what your talking about Lamium... I think you hit your head to hard..."  
  
"Stop your act. I know who you are. Do you know how surprised I was to see your face the first time.. I almost didn't believe it. I thought, no, it has to be a coincidence.." He kept his eyes on Kyuusai, "Then to hear your name... I kept telling myself it was just some odd coincidence... that it couldn't be."  
  
Kyuusai stared at the rambling man in front of him, a man who he barely knew, yet the man knew almost everything about him.  
  
"I mean, dear Lord! I kept telling myself it had to be. I thought I was crazy. It couldn't be the same man. This Kyuusai fellow... How could it. It just couldn't! By God he would have to be over 9000 years old!" Lamium continued, all the while calmly, like he had said this a million times before, "Nine thousand!"  
  
Kyuusai was stunned... that number was far larger than he had estimated... Nine thousand, compared to his five thousand...  
  
"Then... I don't know why... But I knew it was you. Perhaps it was because of the fact that you were so naive..." He paused, "Your showing all of the symptoms you know..."  
  
"Symptoms... what?"  
  
"Your eyes... don't think I haven't noticed. They were much much darker before... and you tend to zone out... I know what that means... April told me you get sick every morning... wake up mumbling things... Its side effects you know." Lamium was talking very seriously, "These same side effects were found in 64% of those that were cryogenically frozen. They called it Partial-Cryo-intelecdeterioration-sickness. It was a sickness only found in those directly frozen, and like I said, only 64% of them. None of their offspring had it."  
  
Kyuusai was starting to get frightened... no Zi native should know anything about the cryogenic freezing.  
  
"It slowly damaged the color pigmentation's in the eyes... sometimes damaging sight receptors, causing the infected one to go blind... Some lost muscle mass, some lost hair... But almost all of them were found to have slow deterioration to specific cells of the brain... mostly those concerned with memory, time perception, and conscious thought. It caused many to have horrific nightmares night after night... But the worst was not any of that... the worst was that eventually, the deterioration grew so bad that those infected went insane... not the same kind of mental illness as, lets say, a serial killer... But one that bombarded the infected with old memories, forcing them to relive them like as dreams or nightmares... forgetting the new. One that drove them to be violent and angry.. sometimes having two personalities... or obsessive compulsive. It was described as if the infected ones mind was locked in a pitch black room, to be tormented with old ills and memories that they would rather forget... with no other thing to focus on to take the hurt away... no other thought but to drive them to relive their pasts... it was horrible..." He took a breath, "Often it drove them to harm others.. without releasing what they were doing..."  
  
"What?.." Kyuusai held his breath... suddenly catching on, "I wouldn't... I wouldn't hurt them... Im not insane... I have bad dreams.. so what..."  
  
"Kyuusai, you show almost all of the symptoms... and you can't tell me you haven't zoned out, reliving some memory. You grow angry often thinking about how the Earth was destroyed don't you?" Lamium sighed, "Kyuusai, please forgive me for having to tell you like this... But you are obviously in that 64%..."  
  
Kyuusai suddenly found himself thinking about it.. He did sometimes grow extremely angry and irritable.. but... but he wasn't going crazy.. was he? He cursed as he found himself starting to get angry at this, " Who... Who the hell are you?"  
  
"I..." Lamium seemed hesitant, "I am Lamium Damien Traskar."  
  
Kyuusai's heart skipped a beat. He recognized the name the moment it escaped from the older mans lips. It was a man named Damien Traskar that had been the one to send them off into space. The one in charge of the Lyra satellite... the one who had explained why they couldn't use his theory...  
  
"My ancestor is the same Damien Traskar you knew... I am the only man alive, besides a few ZBC officials, that even know that Earth existed at one time." He paused, "Kyuusai... I have known this information since I was very young... we kept it in our family... in old journals... they are gone now... but.. I do know what I am talking about..." He stopped, "do not hide from me anymore... You are Lead Commander Tactician Kyuusai Itsuro of Earths National Alliance military forces. You were the first to be sent of to space to find a new planet for the humans to live. You grew up in Japan, with Waki Funahashi, and Bryce Garcia, second and third Commander Tacticians. You were told to report to Tokyo main base on the date of October 30th. You practically witnessed the destruction of the Earth, the highly technological human civilization. You are approximately nine thousand, three hundred and one years old. You are within the 64% of those infected by the cryo-disease."  
  
Kyuusai backed up into a chair... collapsing into it, unsure of what to say. He was shocked, angry, and confused... yet impressed.... Impressed that this man knew so much about him... But there was one thing he was wrong about...  
  
"Your wrong..." Kyuusai whispered, "Your wrong... Even if I am going slowly insane... I will never ever hurt those three... the "kids" you keep your eye on so strongly."  
  
"Mr. Itsuro. You are a brilliant tactician, your intelligence higher than no doubtedly almost all of Zi... and that could make you a very dangerous person."  
  
"I am not the same man I was on Earth." Kyuusai stated, anger clearly stinging his voice, "Itsuro is gone... he was just as foolish as all the others... just like you! He gave up you know... He gave up the minute your ancestor said "no, it can't be done" Humans are foolish creatures... And yes, I too am foolish, but not in the same way I was on Earth. I will never let that happen again. I will not loose them like I lost Bryce and Waki. I will not loose them as April lost her family. I won't let it happen! I am not crazy... and even if I was, so what!?"  
  
"Kyuusai, I do know how much it must hurt."  
  
"How could you Lamium? You aren't me. Im not even the same as I used to be, I don't even know how it feels exactly anymore! But I do know this. Those three are my friends, and though I am not as close to them as I was Bryce and Waki, they are the only thing I have... Like How Jeremy and Ryan are the only thing April has."  
  
"Kyuusai, Im asking you to leave the battlehawks team... not to give up your feelings for them. Its for their good, as well as yours. I do not want you to harm them"  
  
"I haven't yet, have I? I have never even come close. Don't you bullshit me like that. You don't even know. You yourself said it was what, 9000 years ago? That's a long time... you didn't even exist back then to see exactly what happened. So shut your foolish old mouth, and listen." His eyes flared with pure anger, yet no hatred for the man in front of him, "I am a foolish man... all humans are. That is why we have wars, hatred and dominance over all we come across. But that foolishness will not drive me to harm a hair on either of those three's heads... ever. If it did, I assure you I would be gone in a flash. I lost too much to give up again... that would be even more foolish than ever!"  
  
With that Kyuusai grabbed his coat, and quickly made his way to the door. He stopped before walking out... and without bothering to face Lamium said, "I like you lamium.. always have. Your a good man... and I know that your worried about those three... But way back when I first joined up with them, you asked me to protect April... well... look at me now as you did back then. I will not let anything happen to them.. .from my own cause or others. Good-bye sir." He quickly stepped out the door and down the hall. He could feel the anger in his body, swarming like an angry pack of wasps. Perhaps Lamium was right about him going insane... but he was wrong about him.  
  
................................................  
  
The ride back to the base was uneventful, save the eerie silence between the battlehawks. When Jeremy and Ryan questioned about what Lamium wanted to speak about, Kyuusai told them he'd tell them later... with no obvious intention to follow through on that statement. April, all the while, was extremely quiet.  
  
The few following days after that were also quite uneventful... except for the fact that Kyuusai seemed to keep himself in his room, to himself more... and April seemed abnormally quiet.  
  
Kyuusai had noticed that he had gotten worse when it came to how he zoned out, and grew angry... or insane... His nightmares had gotten worse.. and he found himself thinking more of Earth, and less of Zi. He found himself, just as Lamium had said, reliving Earth... and it scared him.  
  
It was about a month later that the young tactician decided to leave. It had gotten out of hand. He found himself muttering about Earth without meaning to... He also found himself angering much more quickly... much more violently ... luckily no one noticed. He decided that he would leave during the night, when no one was up...  
  
Only, someone was up. As he carried his bags out through the main room, he was surprised to see April sitting quietly watching him from the couch.  
  
"Where are you going?" She asked.  
  
"Uh... I got a call.. something came up... I'll be back in a couple of days..." Kyuusai lied... A few days, or never... like how it was a few days till he had to go to the satellite.... Wait.. no... no.. that was a long time ago.. That wasn't right...  
  
Kyuusai stumbled a bit, shaking off his thoughts... he was once again reliving an old memory... he had to leave...  
  
"So why are you going now?" April asked quietly, watching him intently, "Is there something wrong?"  
  
"I just have to go, ok?" Kyuusai said, "I have to do something..." He had to save the Earth... NO! no no no that happened before... that wasn't what was happening now...  
  
He said good-bye, and not to worry, and to tell Jeremy and Ryan he'd be back soon, then quickly took his leave. He had to go... He didn't want to cause any trouble for them... Did he cause trouble for them? He hoped not, he never wanted to be a bother...  
  
He threw his things into the shield ligars cockpit, then climbed in himself, pushing everything to the back. He brought the zoid to life, closing the cockpit with a sigh... was he doing the right thing... leaving like that, without telling them? He... he never did tell them who he really was. They did deserve to know... They were so kind go him.  
  
He pushed the zoid outside, and began to run... He didn't know where. Maybe he could go to Saurian city. He could get a room there, and decide what to do after that. He could plan his next move... maybe send a letter to the Battlehawks explaining about everything... He could tell them about Earth... and Waki and Bryce... and who he was really...  
  
His thoughts drifted back to Earth... His friends were waiting for him, outside his apartment complex... They always walked together to work... Unless Bryce drove.. Today he was driving... Waki was in the back... she always sat in back. Said she liked more space.  
  
She would reach her arms around his and Bryce's shoulders, putting her head in between theirs. Bryce muttered something about having to drive... then laughed...  
  
Waki would smile and tug on Bryce a bit, then say "fine.. I'll just hang with Kyuusai then. Then she would hang on Kyuusai's shoulders. It was not anything to do with them loving each other or anything like that. They were just close friends... or well, he had a thing for Waki once.. but it was only a phase when they were younger... It had passed a long time before that.  
  
Bryce would say "Aww... no fair... Kyuusai always gets the cute girls..." and they would all laugh...  
  
And Kyuusai would daydream. He would see the Earth covered in bright green grass, tree's and flowers... he imagined the animals... Gentle rains... a brilliant sunrise... soft, billowing clouds...  
  
And Waki would be there with Bryce... standing there, holding out her hand.. waiting for him to join them... Their feet were planted on soft grass... and then... there was a strait line of where that grass met metal and concrete. The real Earth... Kyuusai was standing with his feet just in front of that line.  
  
Standing there... Waki smiled, Bryce grinned... Her hand was extended towards him... And he reached up to take it.  
  
Bryce laughed, "What are you waiting for man? Come on... take a look... This is all your hard work! It's amazing... Beautiful... I've never imagined the Earth so alive..."  
  
And then... he would reach out... and his hand would swipe nothing. Waki was gone. Bryce was gone. The grass, the beautiful flowers... the tree's were gone. There was no sky. No brilliant sunrise. No clouds... No rain... no gentle breeze...  
  
Just an endless plain of concrete and metal.  
  
And he heard her scream, "Kyuusai...!"  
  
Kyuusai suddenly snapped out of his sudden fit and looked ahead. He was still inside the shield ligar, which was still running along the desert sands. He was confused... He could have sworn he was just with Waki and Bryce...  
  
No... Waki and Bryce were dead.  
  
"Kyuusai!"  
  
"God dammit, Kyuusai open communications!"  
  
The tactician snapped out of his confusion and pushed a small button, and a screen showing Ryan popped up in front of him.  
  
"What happened?!" Kyuusai demanded, after he had seen his friends face. Ryan had received a blow to the head... Exactly where he couldn't tell, his dark hair was matted down and in the way. Blood streaked down the side and part of the front of his face, and a large bruise was starting to blacken just below his lip... which had a small cut on it as well.  
  
"Drias... Drias found the base... Kyuusai we need your help..."  
  
"What? How?"  
  
"I don't know... He... We're trying to stop him, but he brought too many of his friends... We don't know what to do Kyuusai. April... April's fighting with him now... She.. She's not winning..." Ryan cringed painfully, and the screen shook. Obviously he had been hit, "He got us before we could even get into the zoids..."  
  
"Im on my way... Just try to hold them off. I promise I'll be there soon." Kyuusai cursed, and turned the ligar around quickly. He pushed it's speed to the max, his mind racing, his own daydreams and insane hallucinations on hold. His friends were in trouble... he would not let his problems get in the way. Waki, Bryce, and the Earth would not get in his way. God help any human who decided to try and get in his way.  
  
..................................  
  
He got there just in time to see Ryan's pteras come crashing brutally to the ground. It had been shot down by a Salamander... The aerial zoid Kyuusai had at one time admired...  
  
He could see Jeremy's saber fang collapsed a little bit off to his left... it's legs severed completely off. A few dark green rev raptors were still tearing into it's armor, slicing of each piece individually.  
  
April's Konig wolf was nowhere in sight.  
  
Immediately he tried to open up communications with his three friends... and cursed when he was only able to bring up 2 screens, Ryan and Jeremy's... Both of whom were unconscious... Both of whom already looked dead...  
  
Rage quickly built up inside Kyuusai, worse than it ever had before. An uncontrollable, all out, hate filled rage. He grasped the controls tightly in his grip, angry tears streaming down his face. He had told Lamium he would protect them. He bit down, his black bangs hanging in front of his flashing eyes... He cringed his teeth together. He would not loose them too.  
  
He told Lamium that he would not hurt them... He would protect them. Mixed memories flashed in front of his eyes... He couldn't stop them... He saw his new friends... and his old. The Earth and Zi... He saw the same scene played out by Waki, Bryce and himself, then by April Ryan and Jeremy...  
  
He pushed forward on one of his controls, bringing a custom mounted machine gun located on his ligars back to fire head on towards the Salamander. Apparently the pilot had not noticed his arrival, and had no time to react. The large, magnificent flying zoid spiraled uncontrollably to the ground, crashing in a large explosion as a fire engulfed all it's ammunition. Brilliant hot flames sprung up from the wreckage... just as it started to rain.  
  
He turned his crazed anger towards the rev raptors... Who had by know noticed his sudden attack. Quickly they left their previous prey to stalk this new annoyance.  
  
Kyuusai yelled angrily, shoving his zoid towards them. He brought back the ligars claws, and in one clean sweep, be-headed one of the enemy's before him... instantly he turned to tackle another, not caring that one of it's blades had impaled his ligars leg. The next one fell victim to his machine guns, the cockpit completely shot out.  
  
All the while he saw flashes of memories... he saw Waki and Bryce just before the hibernation chambers closed... He felt the same emotions... He saw flashes of what would be memories... if he had been conscious... Stars all around him... pitch black space... Stars.. and an explosion... The Earth.  
  
All this brought him back to one thought... Humans were foolish, undeserving creatures. They deserved to be destroyed... The Earth had been their home... and they had destroyed it... The same thing was happening on Zi.. slowly, but surely. He would have thought that humans would have learned their lesson.. Thought that they wouldn't have anymore fighting... anymore murdering, conspiracies... war...  
  
But it was just a thought. He knew that it would never be like that. Humans. Foolish, foolish humans... It was in their "dominant intelligent" nature.  
  
He snapped back... his thoughts screaming at him, 'These people deserve to die.... They will die. I won't let them hurt my friends... Not again!'  
  
And before he knew it... in one hazy flash... the rev raptors were gone... and his ligar was the only zoid left standing.  
  
"Jeremy... Ryan!" He yelled at the two screens in front of him. Slowly Jeremy came to, his eyes blinking weakly. He tried to move... but stopped, obviously in pain.  
  
"Don't move... Im coming..." Kyuusai instructed. It was then that Ryan shivered... coughed up a bit of blood and opened his eyes...  
  
"Kyuusai..." Ryan wheezed..., "Tha... That was amazing..." Ryan whispered.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I watched you take out those zoids..." Ryan continued to whisper, a thin, weak smile coming to his lips, "Amazing... I didn't know... you... you were so good..." He groaned, "But I knew you'd come to help us..."  
  
"Don't try to talk if you can't..." Kyuusai demanded. Being a military man, he had seen a lot of wounded people... It had never phased him... But this time it was his friends. He was in a fit of panic. He couldn't stop the old memories from surfacing, yet he couldn't stop thinking about their well being... He had to get control of himself.  
  
"I... There's a piece of metal stabbed between my ribs..." Ryan muttered, his eyes showing almost no emotions... only a bit of glee... and pain...  
  
"Im coming...!" Kyuusai cursed, pushing his zoid towards the fallen Pteras.  
  
"No..." Ryan cursed, "Im... Im all right... Find April...."  
  
April! Kyuusai suddenly remembered, and quickly looked around. Just as he came to a stop a large roar was heard... followed by a strange, unfamiliar voice.  
  
"Oh... look what we have here..."  
  
"Drias..." Jeremy and Ryan hissed at the same time.  
  
"A hero's come to save the day...."  
  
Out of the dark, rainy shadows ahead of him, Kyuusai witnessed a huge zoid slowly move towards him. It was dark green in color, stood on two legs, and was similar to the raptor type... like a gunsniper, or genosaurer. Only this zoid was much much larger... and had a large spine of "spines" on it's back... A name suddenly sprung into Kyuusai's mind. Dark spiner. He had read about it once.  
  
But Kyuusai only quickly thought about the incredibly rare zoid in front of him... His thoughts were focused on what the zoid was dragging in it's mouth.  
  
"April!" Jeremy yelled, pain and fear streaking across his face.  
  
The Dark spiner was dragging the top half of the konig wolf by it's head, within it's large jaws. If Drias were to apply any more pressure, the Konig wolf's head would be crushed.  
  
"Im not sure if she can hear you buddy." Drias grinned, his face appearing on their screens.  
  
It was the first time Kyuusai had seen the man. And his appearance was nothing like he had imagined. He was average height, with an average build. He had a slight "little boyish" look to his face, with dark, violet eyes. His hair was wavy and blond, reaching just below his ears. He had two visible scars on his face. Both running down along his cheeks, starting from the corners of his eyes. He had obviously done it himself for show.  
  
"Drias let her go!" Ryan spat, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.  
  
"Oh... but I like playing with her. Its so much fun." Drias smiled, a cruel, ugly smile that sent a chill down Kyuusai's spine.  
  
"I'll tell you what.... Let the hero kid here come and take her from me... then I'll let her go..." Drias said.  
  
"Im not a kid." Kyuusai muttered, his eyes focused on the zoid in front of him, "Let her go."  
  
"You're a lot younger then me... so I'll call you a kid if I want to. I call anyone younger than me kid. Im 38 years old... your obviously no older than 21 or so." Drias seemed interested in bringing a common conversation into the mix, "I know I don't look it. April's a bit young for me you know... But she's cute. Too bad she don't like me... All I did was kill her dad. You know, it was interesting, he almost escaped. Heh... I splattered his brains against a wall.... poor guy. Hey, you can't say I wasn't merciful... at least it was quick. You know the last thing he said..."  
  
"You'd be surprised just how old I am." Kyuusai cut him off. He didn't want to hear it. He could feel his rage building up again, his blood red hatred for this man singing out against all his other emotions. He could only think that if he was insane... what was this man? He must have truly been sick...  
  
"... really?" Drias looked a bit baffled, "Hmm... well anyway.. he said 'no.. no don't... I have to get back to April... She needs me. I love her...' or something like that. I don't remember exactly. It was so fun killing him I guess I just forgot."  
  
"Shut up." Kyuusai demanded, pushing the ligar forward.  
  
Drias grinned, dropping the konig wolf to the ground, and turning to completely face his new opponent, "What's this? The hero finally wants to play?"  
  
"Go to hell!" Kyuusai pushed the ligar forward, at full speed to rush at the much larger zoid ahead of him.  
  
"Boys!" Drias called, and out of the darkness came two more zoids... their dangerous frames coming to full view. Genosaueres.  
  
The two Genosaueres had somehow gotten in front of both Jeremy and Ryans zoids. Both aimed their charged particle guns strait at the cockpits.  
  
"You coward." Kyuusai whispered, "Coward..."  
  
Drias smiled, "Look at that... The Hero's lost his nerve."  
  
Kyuusai cursed, his anger almost blinding him. He reached down to grasp the controls once more, and slowly pushed forward on them.  
  
"Kyu... Kyuusai..." April's voice came over his intercom, and he stopped. He tried to open a com screen, but to no success. April's zoid was totaled, and the com screen wouldn't work.  
  
"Kyuusai.. Lamium... He told us..." April whispered, "After you left... Lamium told us who you were... We went out to find you, because we were worried... that's how Drias found us...."  
  
Kyuusai was in shock... They knew... they knew who he was... what he was.  
  
"Kyuusai.. it doesn't matter to us who you were that long ago, who cares if you were a tactician... or what might happen..." April continued... suddenly to be cut off by Drias.  
  
"This is getting dry. Lets spice things up a bit." He aimed his Charged particle cannon at the cockpit of the konig wolf and began charging. Kyuusai was in shock, barely noticing the genosaurars acting similarly.  
  
"Kyuusai.."  
  
"I won't." Kyuusai swore...  
  
Drias grinned, as the white light grew a bit brighter.  
  
"I won't loose you three too." Kyuusai's rage built up more. They knew... lamium had told them.  
  
Lamium had told them... even though he didn't want them to know.  
  
Kyuusai pushed forward, as fast as the zoid would go. He had to save them... he had to save them... and Waki and Bryce.  
  
"I'll save them..." Kyuusai whispered. His eyes blazing. He was back in his own little world. Was it Earth or Zi? His new friends? Or Waki and Bryce?  
  
"Kyuusai..." Jeremy coughed, "Thanks... you... you came back when we were in trouble... you did protect us..."  
  
"Yeah..." Ryan added, "You did... you were awesome... We just weren't good enough to hold off long enough..."  
  
"Kyuusai.. just... don't forget us ok...?" April said quietly... or was it Waki? He couldn't tell. Their voices melded together.  
  
The explosion of white light was tremendous.  
  
.........................................  
  
Kyuusai could barely remember what happened after that. Just flashes. Drias had taunted him a bit, and before he knew it he was on top of the dark spiner, tearing at its head with the ligars claws.  
  
He had taken a few hits... he thought... and had torn the cockpit clean out of the spiners head, tossing it to the ground.  
  
Then next thing he saw was the genosaueres collapsing to the ground, one had its legs torn off... the other it's head.  
  
Then... he remembered somehow getting Drias's gun.  
  
"What are you gonna do kid? Shoot me?" Drias taunted.  
  
"Im not a kid." Kyuusai answered.  
  
"Then how old are you... 24 maybe?" Drias laughed, "A tactician huh... a tactician is a wimp... they aren't the ones that fight."  
  
"Try nine thousand." Drias's eyes widened and Kyuusai pulled the trigger, unfazed by the fact that Drias's brains were now scattered across the sands, "I'll show you. I'll show you all just how dangerous one simple tactician can be."  
  
............................  
  
But none of that mattered now. It was in the past.  
  
..............End of chapter six.....................  
  
Authors note: Whew... just a bit more. The epilogue. go check it out, posting it at the same time as this chapter. Don't forget to tell me whatcha think. 


	8. Epilogue

Authors note: The finale! Don't forget to review! I wanna thank you all once again for stickin with me! THANKS! Oh... and gotta give a shout out to Deathzealot for pushing me to do this!  
  
Now... should I do other characters? And if so... whom? (Rei, The light- feathers, Gabrielle etc... tell me if you would like to see more...)  
  
Oh, and I did some character sketches... I really like how they turned out. If anyone would like to see them, e-mail, or put it in your review! Come on... You know you all want to know what Sin looks like!  
  
EPILOGUE.  
  
"...Twice I have known this..."  
  
"...Twice I have lived..."  
  
"...Twice I have died...."  
  
"...And twice the nightmares never ended..."  
  
........................................  
  
A man walked slowly along the rubble of the Chaos-sin. Sin's huge battlezoid that had tormented all of Zi with it's immense power. If it had not been for a few kids, and their parents... then this zoid would have destroyed all the humans on the planet.  
  
The man was tall, with dark brown hair and eyes... following him was a small zoid... his Organoid... Zeke. The same organoid of his ancestor.  
  
He came to Sins chambers, and forced the wrecked door open. Small fires had sprung up, and pieces of metal jutted in every direction. The floor below him flickered a bit... a map of Zi barely visible.  
  
A black haired man laid sprawled across the floor, his hand on a small journal. On the table next to the man was a chess set, undeterred by the wreck of the monstrous dragon... probably magnetic.  
  
The brown haired man approached the other. Startled to hear a whisper.  
  
"Who... who are you... who is the one that... the pawn that has... beaten me...?" The man said.  
  
"I did not beat you. It was the kids of the demi-humans you enslaved... and their friends."  
  
"All pawns..."  
  
"Pawns?"  
  
"Yes... they were all... all pawns..." The mans voice was weakening, "They... they should not have won. But.. They did. And... who are.. you?"  
  
"My name is Chris Fly-height... I am the leader of the ZBC. You are Sin... right?"  
  
"Sin..." The black haired man turned to see Chris's face, "That is the name I gave myself... the name that fit me so well... You... You too were a pawn..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look... at the table... my game of chess has... has ended once again... and it always ends the same..."  
  
Chris looked up at the table. The chess pieces were magnetic, and it seemed that even though all but a few white pieces were left, they had won. Because a pawn had checkmated the black king.  
  
"She... She beats me every time..." Sin continued, "Every time..."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Waki... or... was it April?" Sin seemed confused. That was the first time he had truly seen his face. He had pale skin, almost unnaturally so, with dim, almost white orangish eyes. His hair was thin and ink black, reaching to his mid back, "I.. I don't remember... April... Or waki?"  
  
Chris remained silent, starring at the man in front of him.  
  
"I... I was supposed to win..." Sin continued.  
  
"We won Sin. Your sick game is over. You can't get rid of humans." Chris answered.  
  
"Heh... your just like... like the rest of them... you don't under... understand..." Sin sighed, "Humans doomed Earth... they... they destroyed it. It's because of their foolishness that... I lost them... both times..."  
  
"Both times?"  
  
"I lost them again... I tried.. I tried to save them..." Sin had tears streaming down his face, "Twice, humans... took them away from me... my friends... Now they're gonna destroy it all... Earth..."  
  
"This isn't Earth Sin... This is Zi."  
  
"Zi?... Oh.. yeah..." Sin's eyes were beginning to close, "You know... I tried... so hard... to save them all... but they didn't let me..."  
  
An explosion rang out, obviously from another part of the battlezoid.  
  
"You don't understand..." Sin kept talking, "you have not seen it.. as I have... I would explain.. but... I can't.. I don't get it much anymore... you.. see.. I... Are they outside?"  
  
"Who?" Chris asked.  
  
"Waki and Bryce..." Sin replied... "or the others...? They always wait for me... to go to work..."  
  
Chris realized that Sin was remembering something. He must have been trapped in some memory he couldn't escape from. He must have been insane...  
  
"It won't end." Sin coughed up a bit of crimson red blood, and sighed, "They just don't end..."  
  
"What don't Sin?"  
  
"Sin... heh..." Sin laughed, "Am I sin... am I really..." He breathed out and started to mumble something. Eventually Chris was able to catch the words...  
  
"They say.. your life flashes before your eyes..." Sin mumbled... "But... I have lived two..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I am... Kyuusai.. and I am Sin... I don't want them anymore... I don't wanna see them anymore.."  
  
"I don't understand Sin." Chris said.  
  
"No one does... I am Sin... I am Kyuusai.. which one am I? Where's Bryce and Waki?" He coughed up a bit more, "I... I can see her you know.. Waki... and Bryce too... Or is it April... and Ryan? Or Jeremy?" Sin closed his eyes, "She's holding out her hand to me... but I just... can't reach it..." He paused, "Why won't the nightmare end...? How is it the pawns win? I always.. meant to ask her... Maybe Lamium knows..."  
  
Chris turned away from the dying man in front of him... he was obviously insane... he felt sorry for him.  
  
"You know... Im a Tactician.. for the N.A..." Kyuusai explained, "I was supposed to be one.. of the most intelligent men.. on Earth... But I just can't figure it out... Maybe you can help me...?"  
  
"What can't you figure out Sin?"  
  
"Why don't they end? Why do humans act the way they do? Are they foolish... or... am I?" He took one last breath, "Is it over?"  
  
..........................................  
  
Kyuusai's eyes opened, and the first thing he saw was metal and concrete. He could smell the horrible smells of Earth. But also... he could smell the sweet scent of flowers.  
  
He slowly pushed himself up, and looked down. In front of his fingertips was a strait line a line where the gray met the green. He was confused.  
  
"Kyuusai." A voice met his ears. He looked up. He was still on his hands and knees, and had to bend his neck a bit to see who it was.  
  
There, standing a few feet away, their feet, planted firmly in the grass, were Waki and the others.  
  
"Kyuusai.. It's been such a long time..."  
  
"Waki.... " Kyuusai couldn't believe it... it was his dream again wasn't it?  
  
"We've been waiting. Its time... Come with us..." She held out her hand, just feet away from him.  
  
"Come on Kyuusai." Bryce added, "You know you want to."  
  
"Kyuusai?" April was standing just behind Waki, a grinning Jeremy and Ryan directly behind her, "Lets go."  
  
Kyuusai smiled, tears streaming down his face. Slowly and shakily, he reached up, and this time... he took Waki's hand.  
  
...................................  
  
Chris flipped to the last page of the journal. He had been reading it for days. It was sad... this man, Kyuusai.. had gone through so much... then he became Sin.  
  
He read the last page aloud... obviously it had been written just as the Chaos-sin lost, because the ink ran with the last word.  
  
"In the fleeting moment of a fright filled nightmare, I glanced it."  
  
"When everything there was, soon to be burned and bathed in the fires of hell..."  
  
"...Seemed so precious, even if it was truly nothing at all..."  
  
"...and for once... Once in my lifetime... I didn't want to let it go..."  
  
"...Everything I had come to know... everything I had come to love..."  
  
"...Everything I had hope in... Everything..."  
  
"...my life..."  
  
"...It was no more..."  
  
" But, It was only a nightmare."  
  
"..All nightmares must eventually end..."  
  
Chris shut the book, and could recall Sin... or Kyuusai's voice. He had also made a short recording... Chris had found it among the wreckage.  
  
"...They say, whoever "they" may be, that your life flashes before your eyes as you die, or, right before you die..."  
  
............The end.............  
  
Authors note: love it? Hate it? Tell me whatcha think!  
  
Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I can't stress that enough!  
  
If you didn't see it in the fist note, here is it... I did character sketches for this fic. If your interested in seeing them, leave it in your review or email... and if you would like to see a fic about another specific character from my stories, tell me who... maybe I'll do it! 


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